Frequently Asked Questions

In Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Illawarra, the Hunter, Central Coast and Broken Hill we set the maximum retail prices for water and sewerage services charged by:

• Sydney Water
• Hunter Water
• The Central Coast Council (formerly Gosford Council and Wyong Shire Council), and
• Essential Energy (for Broken Hill).

We also set the maximum prices for stormwater drainage, trade waste, recycled water, and a range of ancillary and miscellaneous services provided by these water utilities.

We set maximum prices for the following bulk water suppliers:

• WaterNSW, and
• Sydney Desalination Plant.

We also set maximum prices for the Water Administration Ministerial Corporation’s (WAMC’s) water management services.

WaterNSW is the main supplier of bulk water in the Sydney region. It manages and protects Sydney’s drinking water catchments and catchment infrastructure, and supplies bulk water to Sydney Water.

WaterNSW also operates dams and weirs to deliver bulk water to irrigators and other licence holders on regulated rivers across NSW.

The desalination plant is a key element in greater Sydney’s water security plan. The desalination plant provides a source of non-rainfall dependent drinking water that can be relied upon when Sydney’s available water storage levels fall below a certain threshold.

WAMC’s water management services are provided to those who hold entitlements to take water from regulated rivers, unregulated rivers and groundwater sources across NSW.

No. IPART does not set water and sewerage prices for regional areas where services are provided by local water utilities or local government.

For more information on local water utilities contact DPIE Water.

There is a difference between the structure of residential charges for water (service and usage charge) and wastewater (service charge only). There are two main reasons for this difference:

Firstly, the costs of providing wastewater services are predominantly fixed costs. That is, the cost of providing wastewater services remain mostly fixed regardless of how much wastewater is discharged into the network. A major reason for this is that, unlike drinking water networks, wastewater networks are typically built above the capacity required to deal with wastewater discharges alone. This is a design requirement to allow wastewater systems to minimise the frequency and scale of wastewater overflows during heavy rainfall.

Secondly, while there is a small portion of wastewater costs that are variable, wastewater metering costs are very high compared to water metering costs. Rolling out wastewater metering to facilitate usage charges would involve significant costs that would likely outweigh any benefits.

No. Rebates are set by water utilities. Here is more information about rebates and assistance.

For any complaints about your water service or pricing, your supplier’s contact details will be on your bill. Contact them first so they are aware of the problem and have an opportunity to resolve it. If they cannot resolve it immediately, they should deal with your complaint using their complaints procedure. You can ask for a copy of this procedure.

If you have a problem or dispute with your utility about billing or another matter, you can contact EWON for help in resolving your dispute. However, EWON has no role or authority in setting prices. This means it is not able to investigate complaints about price increases. But it can review whether the relevant charges and prices have been correctly applied to your account.

Here is information about ways to save money on your water bill.