IPART is reviewing costs and prices for water and water-related services provided by Sydney Water, Hunter Water, WaterNSW and the Water Administration Ministerial Corporation (WAMC). IPART has today released its draft decisions on Hunter Water’s maximum prices from 2025-26 to 2029-30.
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%) plus inflation each year for 5 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% 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 5 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.”
“We know there are some households that may be more impacted by these prices during this time of high cost of living and that is why we have also made recommendations to the NSW Government to increase rebates and expand eligibility for bill relief to a broader range of lower income households.”
Hunter Water also has hardship assistance programs for customers facing difficulties paying their bills.
“We are inviting community feedback on these draft decisions, and we’re interested to hear from customers of Hunter Water, whether they are households or businesses. We will consider all comments made through our survey and in submissions before we finalise our decisions.”
IPART’s Draft Report and Hunter Water’s pricing proposal are available on IPART’s website. We welcome community feedback via the website, or via our 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.
Media Contact: Mark O’Brien 0427 105 865, media@ipart.nsw.gov.au