It’s essential—a better deal on necessary services

We have heard you loud and clear—seniors around Australia want action on reigning in price increases and cost-of-living pressures. Sadly, governments are a major culprit, promoting their efforts to tame inflation while, at the same time, raising prices for essential for questionable reasons, which then feed into higher inflation.

State governments are especially responsible for services such as energy, water, and transport. Government-controlled agencies that deliver the services are unlikely to have any competition and can largely set their own prices, which consumers have no option but to pay. 

There may be an overarching regulator that assesses price rises, but it is our suspicion the agencies inflate their proposed price hikes, knowing they will still get what they want even if the regulator winds their demands back.

Often, we’re told the cost of essential service has risen at the last minute and through a media statement from the responsible department, spinning the facts for their own public relations.

Seniors around the nation know better and are demanding greater transparency.

National Seniors Australia (NSA) has been successfully doing that for decades, telling the government what older Australians want and don’t want. And because of your voice and support, we’ve put pressure on the politicians by emphasising fairness and the voting power of the older demographic.

We’re happy to say, your voice through our advocacy has pushed politicians to listen and deliver better outcomes, if only that was more so the case. We have your back and will continue to fight for fairness, especially in fighting for the better use of public mone

That is why our new nation-wide advocacy campaign focuses on essential services and cost of living as they affect seniors in every state and territory.

Through the Essential Services campaign, NSA aims to bring the government to account. We will maintain our advocacy on energy, cost of living, and government concessions and there are new action topics such as food and transport. Indeed, anything that is essential—those services we just cannot live without.

Unfortunately, essential service supply and pricing can be complex, often made more so by government bureaucratic language and spin. 

Our campaign will cut through the jargon and focus on the things you need to know about essential services to ensure you’re not being ripped off.

We know your major concern is affordability and cost of living. If the cost of services keeps going up, what does that mean for your budget, and why should you have to be put in the position of having to cut back on one essential to afford another?

For evidence that governments are gaming essential services, you just have to read about the NSW Government’s latest increase in water charges. 

In the breakout in this article, you will learn that Sydney Water has justified a 13.8% increase in price to ensure it continues to deliver a dividend to the government. 

As such, we’ve written to the regulator demanding a justification for the rise.

As costs across the board continue to rise, where is the fairness in governments making money from public utilities while older people are struggling to make ends meet?

Underpinning our broader Essential Services campaign—as it is with our other advocacy campaigns—is our focus on cost of living. Our campaign is designed to help us focus on relevant state and territory issues to help build the NSA community at a state and community level—whether it’s the cost of public transport, energy, or food.

Through our new Essential Services campaign, we are calling on governments to ensure that essential goods and services are reasonably priced and that adequate concessions apply for those with limited means. 

The benefit of this is keeping the cost of essential services down, which will ensure that households, both young and old, can maintain a decent standard of living.

You can read more about our campaign by going to our online Advocacy pages. You can also show your support and get the most up-to-date information by joining the campaign and by spreading the news with your friends and family.

Access to clean water is critical to all communities. Price rises for water pose a threat to household budgets. In New South Wales, for example, state governments are insisting that public companies pay it ‘dividends’, pushing up the cost of water unnecessarily. Rate charges should ensure basic access while rewarding people who use water wisely.

NSW’s Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) has approved water bills for a typical household will increase on average by 13.8% or $168, and then by around 5.1% or $77 each year (plus inflation) until 2030. The increase will be roughly half that for pensioners receiving a concession.

NSA believes this increase is a blow to productivity and household budgets. IPART has created a bill estimator to enable residents to find out what the draft decisions could mean for their bills. It includes an estimate for concession card holders, such as pensioners.

While this increase is less than the 14% per year before inflation that WaterNSW put forward in its original (and subsequent) submissions to IPART, it is still well above overall Consumer Price Index. 

In its draft determination, IPART stated that, “Not all of the increases in expenditure that WaterNSW proposed are necessary or efficient for this next three-year period”. It was unwilling to make a determination for the full five years but has still accepted a hefty increase in the cost of water.

While price rises are an inevitable part of life, there is a question about whether the amount of increase is justified when part of the rationale for price increases is to ensure WaterNSW can pay the NSW Government a dividend.

Are water corporations and the regulator operating in the best interests of the public?

Households should be angry that WaterNSW, a state-owned corporation, and Sydney Water appear to be all too happy to chance their arm in this way.

While the regulator has pulled them back somewhat, it seems all too often that public corporations aim high, knowing the regulator will only moderate marginally. Furthermore, some of the justification for price rises appear disingenuous.

Water is an essential service, so NSA does not understand how it can be said that charging people a higher price for water would benefit the people of NSW when they are using this to pay the NSW Government a dividend. That was part of WaterNSW’s justification for their initial proposal to IPART.

This appears to be a tax disguised as a water bill, and we have made a submission to IPART saying just that.

It’s not just water, though. This same cat and mouse game is played across the country in energy and other sectors where the public is regularly asked to cough up.

If these kinds of moves are something that annoys you, then join our Essential Services campaign or become an NSA member. We are fighting to make sure older people (and younger ones) get a better deal for essential services.

This article is featured in National Seniors Australia’s quarterly member magazine, Our Generation. 

Become a member today and receive a yearly subscription to Our Generation digital magazine as part of your membership, along with exclusive discounts, competitions, branch access and more! 

Your membership directly funds our advocacy and research work that benefits older Australians including fixing pension poverty, tackling health care costs, and improving aged care.