IPART is reviewing the maximum prices that Hunter Water can charge customers to provide 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 Draft Report
We have released our Draft Report on Hunter Water’s maximum prices from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2030.
Under our draft maximum prices, bills for 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).
The increases in draft maximum prices and bills are mainly driven by the efficient costs of new infrastructure, including the proposed Belmont desalination plant.
We have set draft 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 next year based on what Hunter Water proposed and told us its customers preferred.
In reaching our draft decisions, we considered all feedback received from stakeholders at our Public Hearing and through submissions to our Issues Paper. 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 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.
You can use our bill calculator to find out what our draft decisions could mean for your bills.
We want to hear from you
We are seeking stakeholder views on our draft decisions and invite all stakeholders to make a submission to our Draft Report, or fill out our survey to have your say by 6 May 2025. We will consider all stakeholder views before reaching our final decisions in June 2025.