IPART has set the maximum prices that Hunter Water can charge customers for water, wastewater, stormwater, and other water-related services. The prices we set in this review will apply from 1 July 2025 for 5 years.
Hunter Water serves more than 250,000 households and businesses in the region across 7 local government areas including Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Newcastle, Dungog, Cessnock, Port Stephens and parts of Singleton.
We have published our Final Report
We have released our Final Report on Hunter Water’s maximum prices from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2030.
Under our maximum prices, bills for a typical household customer receiving water and wastewater services will increase:
- In 2025-26 by $54 (or 4.4%) before we add inflation. After we add inflation these bills will increase by around $86 (or 6.9%) in 2025-26. This would see typical bills increasing from $1,241 in 2024-25 to $1,326 in 2025-26. This is lower than the increase under Hunter Water’s proposed prices (of $105 or 8.5%, including inflation).
- In the subsequent 4 years, typical bills will increase on average by $53 (or 3.8%) each year, before we add inflation. This is lower than Hunter Water’s proposed increases of $73 (or 5.0%) each year plus inflation.
The increases in maximum prices and bills are mainly driven by the efficient costs of new infrastructure, including the proposed Belmont desalination plant.
We have set maximum prices to reflect the efficient costs of Hunter Water providing its services and have phased in price increases over 5 years to prevent larger bills in 2025-26 based on what Hunter Water proposed and told us its customers preferred.
In reaching our decisions, we considered all feedback received from stakeholders at our Public Hearing, through submissions to our Issues Paper and Draft Report, and responses to our customer survey. In addition to this process and our legislative responsibilities, we also considered the following factors as required by the NSW Government:
- the cost-of-living impacts of Hunter Water’s prices
- the effectiveness of existing rebates to manage the social impacts of Hunter Water’s prices
- opportunities to adjust project timelines to minimise price impacts and, if necessary, to reduce the proposed capital programs in line with least cost planning principles
- deliverability of the proposed capital plans based on capability and market conditions.
We understand 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 consider temporarily increasing rebates and expanding 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.
You can use our bill calculator to find out what our decisions could mean for your bills.
We thank all stakeholders for their input
We thank all stakeholders for their time and effort throughout this review to provide us with their views on Hunter Water’s prices. We have considered all feedback in making our final decisions and recommendations.