IPART has finalised its annual review of WaterNSW’s regulated charges for bulk water services to apply from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024. The charges will apply to NSW’s 9 valleys in the Murray‑Darling Basin and the Fish River Water Supply Scheme.
Our decision is to maintain the charges set under the 2021 Determination. This means that increases in charges will be limited to inflation of about 7% from 1 July 2023.
Although water usage is likely to have been impacted in 2022-23 by the recent flood conditions across NSW, the combination of high dam storage levels, high allocation rates and potential move to drier conditions could support recovery in water usage levels over 2023-24.
At this time, we found no evidence of a sustained shift in water sales. Therefore, we do not consider it reasonably necessary to vary rural charges for 2023-24 except for inflation.
We will continue to use our annual reviews to monitor changes in demand. If we see any evidence of a sustained shift in demand or an opportunity to improve price stability, we will consider updating charges.
Our Final Report and Addendum Factsheet (which outlines a correction to one of the charges in the Fish River Water Supply Scheme) can be found here.