The lowest water bills in Australia will continue to be found in Victoria after the state’s water regulator completed its 2018 water price review, approving prices for the remaining 12 of the state’s water businesses.
The latest decisions follow the Essential Services Commission approving prices for four water businesses last month including the two largest metropolitan businesses.
Commission chair Ron Ben-David says these pricing decisions will see the vast majority of Victorian water customers benefit from flat or falling water prices.
“We dared the water businesses to think big and today we’re seeing the dividends for customers from that dare.
“We challenged the water businesses to work with their customers to find the best ways to deliver real service improvements while also saving customers hundreds of millions of dollars over the next five years Dr Ben-David said.
The latest price decisions mean many regional customers will enjoy lower bills for the next five years.
Customers of GWMWater (Horsham) will have the largest decrease in 2018–19 of around $30 for a typical residential customer. Bills will also fall by more than $25 in 2018–19 for customers of City West Water and Coliban Water.
Customers of Goulburn Valley Water (Shepparton) will benefit from the largest reduction of around $90 for a typical customer over five years.
Savings identified as a result of community feedback and discussion with the water businesses mean customers of Wannon Water and South Gippsland Water will also see lower prices than what was originally proposed. For these businesses, price changes will be limited to inflation.
Customers of North East Water will see small price increases, of $4 per year for an average customer but will still have some of the lowest water bills in Australia.
Gippsland Water customers will see a one-off bill increase of $20 in 2018–19, but bills will then flatten out and only rise with inflation.
The commission released final decisions for four other water businesses in late May.
Typical residential owner occupier water bills (adjusted for inflation)
2017-18
(current)
2018-19
(from July 1 2018)
+ / -
$
+ / -
%
Barwon Water
$1,025
$1,025
0
0.0%
Central Highlands Water
$1,257
$1,237
-$20
-1.7%
City West Water
$981
$955
-$26
-2.7%
Coliban Water
$1,365
$1,339
-$26
-1.9%
Gippsland Water
$1,314
$1,334
+$20
+1.5%
Goulburn Valley Water
$938
$919
-$19
-2.0%
GWMWater
$1,417
$1,387
-$30
-2.1%
Lower Murray Water (urban)
$976
$972
-$3
-0.4%
North East Water
$871
$875
+$4
+0.5%
South Gippsland Water
$996
$996
0
0.0%
Wannon Water
$1,121
$1,121
0
0.0%
Western Water
$1,019
$1,019
0
0.0%
Typical residential owner occupier water bills are based on the average consumption for households in that region and are presented in $2018 – 19 terms. Calculation includes a rebate paid to customers in 2017 – 18 from a government efficiency review.
