Apartment dwellers are facing steep increases in their water bills as a result of a review being conducted by the pricing regulator, the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal.
Since apartments typically don’t have individual water meters, their water bills are much lower than those of stand-alone houses, an anomaly the tribunal wants to rectify.
As a result, the water bill for those living in a stand-alone home may decline about 5 per cent while the bill for those living in apartments could rise at twice that rate.
More than one in three Sydneysiders live in so-called multi-premises dwellings, which do not have individual meters. And with this figure expected to continue to rise, the tribunal has decided it is time for an overhaul.
”Multi-premise dwellings are paying approximately 40 per cent of the … residential water service charge paid by freestanding houses in Sydney Water’s area, but make up an increasing proportion of the total properties served,” the tribunal said.
Unless the system is changed, households living in freestanding dwellings will pay an ever increasing portion of the city’s water bill. One option being studied would result in all residential premises paying a common service charge.
If adopted, this would result in a 5.1 per cent cut to the average water bill for houses to $520.81 but with an 11.3 per cent rise in the average water bill for multi-premise dwellings to $436.66, according to IPART.
”There’s no way of sending a pricing signal, or an incentive, to use less water when there is no individual metering,” Leigh Martin, of the Total Environment Centre, said.
The review of the cross subsidy in place with water bills comes as the tribunal has commenced its regular four-year review of water and sewerage charges.
After rises of more than 30 per cent in water and sewerage bills over the past four years, a new round of rises of upwards of 15 per cent is in prospect to keep pace with inflation.
”The reality of any such restructure is that there may inevitably be some customers paying more for water services than they currently do,” the Energy and Water Ombudsman NSW, Clare Petre, said.
”It is therefore critical that any reform process has a transition period to minimise any possible price shock and that appropriate and relevant hardship assistance is available for vulnerable customers adversely impacted by a transition to a more equitable pricing structure.”
Sydney Water wants to replace its billing system, which has paved the way for IPART to consider changing the way water bills are drawn up.
”We are already seeing large price rises with electricity and we know there is increased potential for household bills to be going up further, with increasing difficulties for households to absorb them,” Erin Halligan, of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, said.
