TasWater’s water and sewerage prices are approved by the Tasmanian Economic Regulator. We are in the process of preparing next Price and Service Plan, which will outline our priorities and investment plans and be informed by our upcoming customer engagement program.

Separate to our main program of customer consultation, we have proposed some changes to the regulator that we believe will result in fairer customer price outcomes, within the Price and Service Plan period.

The current system allows TasWater to recover inflation and interest costs based on a forecast at the start of the period. This results in us recovering too much or too little as inflation and interest rates move over time.

The proposed changes are to update a component of our prices each year for the actual changes of inflation and interest rates. This ensures that we do not recover too much or too little from customers.

The change will mean that we can deliver on the commitments in the Price and Service Plan within the existing economic climate. It would also bring Tasmania into line with other states, where customer representative groups have argued for the same changes to prices.

The Tasmanian Economic Regulator is seeking views on our proposals, which can be found here.

In addition, we have also proposed the following changes for the Price and Service Plan:

• That the next Price and Service Plan period be extended from four years to five years, to provide greater planning certainty and reduce regulatory costs to customers.
• That the trade waste prices for our large, industrial trade waste customers (known as trade waste customer categories 3 and 4) are approved by the Tasmanian Economic Regulator to give those customers comfort that their trade waste prices are fair and equitable.
• That the Tasmanian Economic Regulator consider the broader costs and benefits across the water cycle of any investment (referred to as a ‘whole-of-system’). We believe more effective customer and environmental outcomes can be achieved by engaging widely and considering all factors in our decision-making.