WaterNSW: Robbing Peter to pay Paul?
Price rises for water are coming, but is it really necessary to raise prices to pay NSW Government a dividend?
What the hullabaloo is IPART?
Here’s an acronym many people in New South Wales wouldn’t know – IPART. Sounds like an arts body? Right. Well, no. It’s the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal.
According to its website, IPART sets the maximum price for certain public goods and services and promotes competition for water, public transport, council rates and more.
It does this through regular consultation processes, where it investigates different industries making recommendations on pricing and competition matters.
IPART sets price limits for water utilities, public transport, and local government rate charges. It also monitors pricing in the energy market and reviews a range of other industries in NSW.
National Seniors Australia regularly makes submissions to IPART on behalf of older people living in NSW to ensure your voice is heard on issues from transport to energy and everything in between.
You can see our submissions to IPART on our website here.
According to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART), end consumer prices for water will rise from 1 October 2025 as part of two separate reviews.
WaterNSW bulk water charges are set to rise by at least 10.4% per year and Sydney Water prices rising at least 4.6% per year.
While price rises are inevitable, 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.
Furthermore, these price rises could have been worse if WaterNSW and Sydney Water’s original proposals were accepted by the regulator.
If you think this is disappointing, then read on to learn more and consider joining our campaign.
Water prices will go up in Sydney
Because there is limited competition in the supply of water, most customers have no choice about who supplies it to them. Instead, IPART independently sets the price for water based on efficient cost and fair price.
IPART recently made a draft determination regarding the price of water in Sydney. Its proposal will see water bills for typical households increase on average by $61 or 4.6% (plus inflation) each year for the next five years.
A typical bill will increase from $1,220 in 2024-25 to $1,527 (plus inflation) by 2029-30!
This increase is a blow to productivity and household budgets, but could have been a lot worse, had Sydney Water got its way.
Under its proposal, Sydney Water wanted an increase of $130 per year or 8.9% (plus inflation) on average! This would have meant a typical bill could have been as much as $1,870 (plus inflation) by 2029-30.
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.
Bulk water charges are also going up
Separately, IPART has also published a draft determination for the maximum prices that WaterNSW can charge for its bulk water, raw water, and unfiltered water services in the Greater Sydney area.
WaterNSW’s Greater Sydney business supplies bulk, raw, and unfiltered water to:
Sydney Water Corporation
Wingecarribee Shire Council
Shoalhaven City Council
Goulburn Mulwaree Council.
The prices set in this review will apply for three years from 1 October 2025 to 30 June 2028, and will see an increase in the average cost of water for these areas by around 10.4% per year before inflation, over the proposed three-year determination period.
For a typical Sydney Water residential customer, this would add about $7 to bills in 2025-26, $20 to bills in 2026-27 and $31 to bills in 2027-28 before inflation.
Again, this increase is less than what WaterNSW put forward in its original (and subsequent) submissions to IPART.
WaterNSW had proposed that it needed a Notional Revenue Requirement (NRR) of $326.6 million per year in September 2024, which was revised down by WaterNSW to $298.7 million in June 2025, only to be further downgraded to $274.9 million in the final draft report by IPART.
In its 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.
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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 to 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 we do 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.
NSA 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 campaign or become or National Seniors Australia member. We are fighting to make sure older people (and younger ones) get a better deal for essential services.
