Victoria’s water prices set to stay lowest in Australia

Water prices for the majority of Victorian households and businesses will remain the lowest in the country as the state’s water regulator prepares to set prices for the next five years.

The Essential Services Commission has released draft decisions for 10 of the state’s water businesses covering nearly one million households.

Commission chair Ron Ben-David says prices will remain steady or even fall across the state.

“Under these pricing plans, water bills will fall slightly or rise in line with the cost of living,” he said.

Dr Ben-David says these latest decisions have confirmed a new water pricing framework is delivering for customers.

“It’s fantastic to see what the state’s water businesses can deliver when they focus on customers and value for money.

“In particular, many of the businesses involved their customers in developing their pricing plans, reflecting the priorities of their communities more than ever before,” he said.

In particular, Dr Ben-David singled out Goulburn Valley Water for delivering tangible benefits to its customers under the new framework.

“On the back of an extensive community engagement program, Goulburn Valley proposed cutting prices by 10 per cent over the next five years while also improving service and large cost savings,” he said.

These decisions confirm Victoria will continue to have the lowest average water prices in the country over the next five years as recently reported in a national water performance report released this month.

This is the second round of decisions under the current pricing review with the commission making early decisions covering 1.5 million households in December. Decisions are still pending for two of the state’s smaller water businesses.

Customers can make a submission on the draft water prices until late April, with final decisions expected in June 2018.