The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal Act 1992 (IPART Act) establishes IPART, sets out our primary functions, and governs how we carry out those functions.
Our primary responsibilities under the IPART Act are:
- Regulating prices and reviewing the pricing policies of government monopoly services supplied by some government agencies. For example, we have a ‘standing reference’ to determine the maximum prices that certain public water utilities can charge for water services in NSW metropolitan areas and rural water areas;
- Providing assistance to other government agencies and undertaking special reviews at the Government’s request in relation to pricing, industry or competition. For example, we review the prices for land valuation services provided by the Valuer-General to councils and have reported on social and affordable housing rent models;
- Carrying out functions in relation to public infrastructure access regimes, including arbitrating access disputes and keeping registers of access agreements – see the energy and transport registers;
- Carrying out regulatory functions as required under other Acts including making recommendations, giving advice, and monitoring regulated entities’ compliance with their licence or authorisation conditions in relation to water, electricity distribution and transmission and gas reticulation; and
- Investigating complaints under New South Wales’ competitive neutrality regime.