What goes into your water bill
TASWATER customers rightly want to understand what goes into determining their water and sewage bills, and to feel they are getting value for money.
Keeping price increases to a minimum while also ensuring we can provide essential water and sewerage services is a fine balance, which is something that TasWater and the Tasmanian Economic Regulator are both focused on.
Every four years, we propose our customer pricing and the cost of providing our services to the regulator – our price and services plan (PSP).
When developing the plan, we consult widely to find out what is important to our customers and stakeholders. The independent regulator then reviews every aspect of the plan in a process that takes close to 12 months to complete. .
TasWater chief executive Michael Brewster said the plan aims to keep customers’ bills as low as possible while ensuring we can deliver fresh, clean drinking water and safely return treated wastewater to the environment.
“We have a lot of infrastructure projects to deliver, and we can’t fix everything at once. We therefore need to know what is most important to our customers, to prioritise that work,” Mr Brewster said.
“For example, previous customer feedback told us that safe drinking water was the top priority. This led us to invest in upgrading small town water supplies to remove Boil Water Alerts around Tasmania in 2018,” he said.
The management of water supply and sewerage systems can be complex, requiring a range of highly technical processes, managed by a team of skilled staff. Tasmania has less than three per cent of Australia’s population but about a third of the country’s water and sewerage treatment plants.
“Even though we have a high number of water and sewerage facilities to support our spread-out population, TasWater’s bills are among the lowest in Australia when compared to similar-sized utilities,” Mr Brewster said.
“No one likes receiving bills, but we need to keep maintaining our infrastructure, replacing and improving it to ensure we can provide services into the future and to also support population growth in the state,” he said.
“There is also a lot of necessary work going on behind the scenes like testing, monitoring and treatment to provide water that is safe to drink and tastes good.”
TasWater is three years into a $1.8 billion, 10-year upgrade and renewal plan that will significantly improve the state’s water and sewerage infrastructure, including the consolidation of some existing treatment facilities to keep operating costs down.
“This investment program might mean your local water treatment plant gets an upgrade, which will mean it operates more efficiently and doesn’t need maintenance as often. It may also improve the quality of the water in your taps and reduce costs over the long term,” Mr Brewster said.
“We understand it’s a difficult time and along with other Tasmanian utilities and the State Government, we’re here to help. We have frozen our prices for the next 12 months because we care for our customers and it is clear many are facing tough times,” he said.
“I would encourage anyone who is struggling to pay their water and sewerage bill to get in touch with us; our Customer Support Program can help. We will continue to support our customers and the economy wherever we can with our infrastructure program supporting local businesses and jobs as part of the state’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.”