Below we present key information on our decisions for Water NSW’s rural bulk water services for customers in the Fish River Water Supply Scheme (Fish River Scheme). This information is not exhaustive and should be viewed in conjunction with our Final Report and Determination. 

Prices for Fish River valley will increase from 1 October 2021 

Under our decisions, Water NSW’s prices will increase as its efficient costs are higher than those used to set prices for the 2017 Determination. The key drivers of these increased costs include that the customer share of: 

  • operating expenditure for Fish River valley has increased by 67.3% (but by 3.7% less than proposed by Water NSW), mainly due to increased expenditure on asset management planning, metering and compliance, dam safety compliance and water quality monitoring. 
  • capital expenditure for Fish River valley has increased by 3.5% (but by 4% less than proposed by Water NSW), mainly due to increased expenditure on dam safety compliance, internal corporate projects and flood operations.

Offsetting these factors are a lower cost of capital, which has decreased from 3.1% to 1.8%.

Decision on customer share of revenue requirement for Fish River Scheme over 2021 Determination

Note: UOM is the payback of "unders and overs mechanism" balance from the 2014-17 regulatory period.

Data source: IPART analysis.

What drives the change in costs for Fish River Scheme since the 2017 determination period?

Data source: IPART analysis.

Decision on prices for the Fish River Scheme

Under the ACCC rules, we are required to set prices for Water NSW that recover its full efficient costs of providing its bulk water services (net of any Government contributions). 

The table below sets out our decision on Water NSW’s prices, as well as prices that would recover Water NSW’s proposed costs on a full cost recovery (FCR) basis over the 2021 determination period.

Decision on bulk water charges – Fish River Scheme ($/ML, $2021-22)

  2020-21 ($2020-21) FCR proposed IPART decision Change 2020-21 to proposed Change 2020-21 to decision Difference between proposed and decision
BULK RAW WATER
Minimum Annual Quantity (MAQ)
Major Customers ($/kL) $0.42 $0.50 $0.49 19.0% 16.7% -2.0%
Oberon Council ($/kL) $0.42 $0.50 $0.42 19.0% 0.0% -16.0%
Individual Minor Customers (annual bill) $84.00 $100.00 $98.00 19.0% 16.7% -2.0%
Usage up to MAQ ($/kL)
Major Customers $0.26 $0.19 $0.33 -26.9% 26.9% 73.7%
Oberon Council $0.26 $0.19 $0.26 -26.9% 0.0% 36.8%
Individual Minor Customers $0.26 $0.19 $0.33 -26.9% 26.9% 73.7%
Usage in excess of MAQ ($/kL)
Major Customers $0.68 $0.69 $0.82 1.5% 20.6% 18.8%
Oberon Council $0.68 $0.69 $0.68 1.5% 0.0% -1.4%
Individual Minor Customers $0.68 $0.69 $0.82 1.5% 20.6% 18.8%
Marginal cost of filtered water
Minimum Annual Quantity (MAQ)
Major Customers ($/kL) $0.68 $0.80 $0.86 17.6% 26.5% 7.5%
Individual Minor Customers (annual bill) $164.00 $192.00 $172.00 17.1% 4.9% -10.4%
Usage up to MAQ ($/kL)
Major Customers $0.39 $0.29 $0.53 -25.6% 35.9% 82.8%
Individual Minor Customers $0.50 $0.37 $0.53 -26.0% 6.0% 43.2%
Usage in excess of MAQ ($/kL)
Major Customers $1.07 $1.09 $1.39 1.9% 29.9% 27.5%
Individual Minor Customers $1.32 $1.33 $1.39 0.8% 5.3% 4.5%

Note: Water NSW’s proposed prices are based on prices that recover Water NSW’s proposed costs over a 4-year period on a full cost recovery basis.

Source: Water NSW proposal and IPART analysis.

Indicative bills under our decisions for the Fish River Scheme

The table below shows indicative bills under our decisions, as well as indicative bills that would arise from Water NSW’s proposed prices (based on full cost recovery over 4-years).

Indicative annual bulk water bills for Fish River Scheme ($2021-22)

      2020-21 ($2020-21) FCR proposed IPART decision Change 2020-21 to proposed Change 2020-21 to decision Difference between proposed and decision
Raw water
Major Customers     $3,837,940 $4,449,912 $4,620,598 15.9% 20.4% 3.8%
Oberon Council     $631,220 $662,404 $624,000 4.9% -1.1% -5.8%
Individual Minor Customers     $405 $419 $499 3.5% 23.4% 19.2%
Filtered water
Major Customers     $1,546,780 $1,663,598 $1,880,857 7.6% 21.6% 13.1%
Individual Minor Customers     $663 $605 $618 -8.7% -6.7% 2.1%

Source: Water NSW proposal and IPART analysis.

The indicative bills shown below are based on Water NSW’s proposed prices (based on full cost recovery over 4-years) and on our 2021 determination prices. 

Bills for Oberon Council in Fish River Scheme

Data source: Water NSW proposal and IPART analysis.

Bills for individual minor raw water customers in Fish River Scheme

Data source: Water NSW proposal and IPART analysis.

Bills for Major Customers in Fish River Scheme

Data source: Water NSW proposal and IPART analysis.

Bills for individual minor filtered water customers in Fish River Scheme

Data source: Water NSW proposal and IPART analysis.

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Water NSW’s proposed costs, prices and indicative bills as presented in our Issues Paper released in September 2020

Our Draft Report on Water NSW’s rural bulk water prices released in March 2021