The Tribunal monitors licence compliance by various means including periodic self reporting; audits; information from other Regulators and Energy and Water Ombudsman's complaints.

Self reporting and Incident Notification

The Reporting Manual provides licensees:

  • information on what to and when to report on reporting obligations.
  • instructions on how to report on compliance or other reporting obligations.

Licensees are required to immediately notify relevant authorities of any incident in the conduct of its activities that threatens, or could threaten, water quality, public health or safety. We have prepared Incident Notification forms that outline the process for notifying:

  • IPART
  • The Minister administering the Public Health Act 1991, and
  • The Minister administering Part 2 of the Water Industry Competition Act 2006.

The reporting manual, reporting templates and incident notification forms can be found here.

Audits

The following Fact Sheet sets out the audit requirements for the licensing regime:
Summary of Audit Framework

The Tribunal has produced an Audit Guideline to provide information and guidance to auditors on the framework and procedures for undertaking water licensing audits to ensure the objectives of the licensing regime are met and to encourage consistency in the assessment and reporting of audit results. The Audit Guideline addresses the various audit categories, prescribed by the relevant legislation and licence conditions, and sets out the role, the conduct and requirements of these audits.

Annual Compliance Reports

The Tribunal is required to report to the Minister by 31 October each year on licence compliance by water network and retail suppliers. The report is publicly released after being tabled in Parliament.
Compliance Report 2012 - 2013
Compliance Report 2013 - 2014
Compliance Report 2014 - 2015
Compliance Report 2015 - 2016
Compliance Report 2016 - 2017
Compliance Report 2017 - 2018
Compliance Report 2018 - 2019
Compliance Report 2019 - 2020
Compliance Report 2020 - 2021
Compliance Report 2021 - 2022
Compliance Report 2022 - 2023

IPART Compliance and Enforcement Policy

The Compliance and Enforcement Policy sets our principles of compliance and enforcement, risk-based regulatory model, compliance approach and enforcement action decision-making framework.

The policy is applicable to all of IPART’s regulatory compliance functions and regulated entities, including water licensing (public water utilities and WIC Act licensees), energy networks, rail access, and the Energy Savings Scheme, as well as water and transport pricing where we are responsible for compliance.
IPART Compliance and Enforcement Policy