General News
8 June, 2023
CHW proposed increased water prices for region
Maryborough residents build-ing a new home will be hit with a new wastewater connection fee from July 1 if a proposal by Central Highlands Water (CHW) is approved. In a price submission made to the Essential Services Commission (ESC), CHW detailed...
Maryborough residents build-ing a new home will be hit with a new wastewater connection fee from July 1 if a proposal by Central Highlands Water (CHW) is approved.
In a price submission made to the Essential Services Commission (ESC), CHW detailed plans to charge customers in Central Goldfields Shire $1300 per lot to connect to wastewater in the 2023-24 financial year.
Previously, there has been no charge for this.
The proposed price increases controversially include even bigger costs for connecting properties in ‘new growth zones’ to water services.
Central Goldfields Shire does not have any new growth zones, but Ballarat has several.
People building a home in new growth zones will be charged $3000 to connect to water and $3000 to wastewater, totalling $6000 per property.
Customers in all zones currently pay $1504 to connect to water and are not charged to connect to wastewater.
Under the CHW’s plan, prices would increase each financial year for the next five years.
From July 1, 2027, non-growth zones customers would be charged a total of $5252 to have water and wastewater connected and people in new growth zones would be hit with an $8,242.40 fee.
In its draft response to CHW’s proposal, the ESC did not accept the proposed charges for new water connections, referred to as ‘new customer contributions’ or NCCs.
“Our draft decision is to not accept Central Highlands Water’s proposed new customer contributions as Central Highlands Water has not provided us with adequate information or justification for us to assess that its approach complies with our guidance requirements,” the commission said in its April draft decision.
The commission has requested additional information in relation to proposed new customer contri-butions charges, ahead of making its final decision.
CHW has since provided more information which the ESC is reviewing.
Member for Western Victoria, Bev McArthur, was critical of the proposed increases and raised the matter in state parliament, asking the Victorian Minister for Water Harriet Shing to intervene.
“Thankfully, the commission is yet to sign off on this extraordinary proposal, despite Central Highlands Water telling the commission that it is not inclined to change its plan,” Mrs McArthur said.
“Even if financial mechanisms are put in place, mum-and-dad cus-tomers, first home buyers and some of the 1.5 million immigrants coming to Australia in the next three years will still need to pay the much, much bigger costs.”
In its submission, CHW said the NCC framework had not changed since 2012, and that since then “there have been significant changes in the nature of development across the towns serviced by CHW, notably Ballarat”.
“The annual adjustment of prices enables recovery of sufficient revenue to cover the increase of expenses, allowing us to continue to deliver the levels of water supply and quality, services and outcomes that the community expects,” a CHW spokesperson said.
“Our Price Submission proposes to double our investment in our customer assistance program to support customers with the proposed increases through a range of targeted support programs and individual, confidential assistance.”
While Central Goldfields Shire does not presently have any new growth zones, these zones are determined by council.
If Central Goldfields Shire or the City of Ballarat declared new growth zones in the future, the higher CHW charges would apply to new properties in those areas.
CHW services customers in Maryborough, Daisy Hill, Talbot, Timor, Majorca, Avoca, Carisbrook, Clunes and Creswick as well as Ballarat.
The ESC’s final decision is due by June 30. Its decision is binding.