THE Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) has released its draft decisions on Hunter Water’s maximum prices from 2025-26 to 2029-30.
IPART is currently reviewing costs and prices for water and water-related services provided by Sydney Water, Hunter Water, WaterNSW and the Water Administration Ministerial Corporation (WAMC).
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Tribunal Chair Carmel Donnelly said Hunter Water’s price proposal did prioritise and defer expenditure where appropriate to limit price increases in a time of high cost of living, while also including investment so Hunter Water can deliver on important customer outcomes such as water security.
“However, the Tribunal has found that prices do not need to increase as much as Hunter Water proposed,” Ms Donnelly said.
Under IPART’s draft decisions, bills for a typical household customer receiving water and wastewater services would increase, on average, by $48 (or 3.6 percet) plus inflation each year for five years from 1 July 2025.
This would see typical household bills increasing from $1,241 in 2024-25 to $1,481 by 2029-30, plus inflation, which is lower than the yearly increases under Hunter Water’s proposed prices (of $71 or 5.2 percent per year before inflation).
“The increases in draft maximum prices and bills are mainly driven by the efficient costs of new infrastructure, including the proposed Belmont desalination plant,” Ms Donnelly said.
“We have set draft prices that reflect the efficient costs of Hunter Water providing its services, and have phased in these price increases over five years.
“Under our draft prices, Hunter Water customers will continue to pay around the median of water bills when compared with other major water businesses around Australia.”
Hunter Water Managing Director Darren Cleary, said IPART’s Draft Report recognised Hunter Water’s efforts to balance the need to invest in critical infrastructure, while keeping bills affordable for customers.
“We’re pleased to see IPART’s draft report acknowledges the importance of maintaining and renewing our essential services to meet the needs of a growing population and changing climate.
“The draft report also recognises that our proposal has been shaped by the views and needs of our customers and community, with IPART grading our proposal as ‘Advanced’ under its framework,” Mr Cleary said.
The Draft Report and Hunter Water’s pricing proposal are available on IPART’s website.
Community feedback can be submitted via the website, or via IPART’s customer survey, until 6 May 2025.
The Tribunal will publish a Final Report with final pricing decisions in June 2025.
The prices set in this review will apply to customers from 1 July 2025.
