A final report and recommendations for TasWater’s next Price and Service Plan were delivered today as the Water Future Community Advisory Panel met for the last time.

The recommendations report marks a major milestone in the community engagement process for Price and Service Plan 5, as TasWater now consider the recommendations and begin to draft the submission that will go to the economic regulator in June 2025.

The recommendations come after 18 months of customer research and engagement, including 5 full days of deliberation with the 45-member community panel. The panel considered feedback from 8,000 community interactions, their own visits to TasWater sites, and workshops with TasWater staff, and views from external experts to develop their recommendations.

TasWater General Manager Customer and Community Matt Balfe said the report and recommendations would guide the organisation’s price and service plan submission.

“Over the last two months, the panel has met to discuss a raft of feedback from the community, including the current pricing structure, standard of service, and future price increases,” Mr Balfe said.

“TasWater staff and subject matter experts have also been involved throughout the process, presenting at workshops and answering panel questions on price and service impacts of potential recommendations.

“We even invited external experts to present at the request of the panel.

“It’s clear to us that Tasmanians are passionate about ensuring our water infrastructure is resilient and capable of adapting to future challenges.”

Mr Balfe said the entire panel should be proud of the work they’ve achieved so far.

“It’s a credit to each member of the panel for being so invested in this process. They all did their own due diligence and even attended site tours of our treatment facilities to gain a true understanding of the effort and resources that go into treating water and sewage,” Mr Balfe said.

The recommendations included:

1. Protect and improve the environment and water security
2. Education and incentives for water conservation
3. Increase awareness of the TasWater Assist Program
4. Upgrade of metering
5. Remodel the pricing structure
6. Proactive Infrastructure management and maintenance
7. Supply water and sewage services to unserviced communities

These recommendations will be considered as part of TasWater's Price and Service Plan 5 submission to the Tasmanian Economic Regulator in June, 2025.

Note on Minority Reports

A minority report is a comment from three or more of the panel where they had a minority comment to make on one of the recommendations from the panel. In this case there were two recommendations proposed that were not supported by a super majority (80 per cent of the panel) and that is the reason for the minority report.

One recommendation was also supported by a super majority but there were a minority that did not support it and wanted to make comment.