Media release – Tasmanian Economic Regulator, 16 June 2023
REPORT ON THE STATE OF THE TASMANIAN WATER AND SEWERAGE INDUSTRY 2021-22
Today the Tasmanian Economic Regulator released itslatest report on Tasmania’s water and sewerage industry. The Report provides a detailed review of the performance of the industry in 2021-22 and offers customers and other stakeholders an insight into some of the issues and challenges faced by TasWater during 2021-22.
Whilst there remain some ongoing challenges, particularly in relation to unaccounted for water, the Tasmanian Economic Regulator, Mr Joe Dimasi, said that, overall, TasWater continues to meet its performance targets.
TasWater continued to meet safe drinking water targets in 2021-22. No water systems operated under long-term boil water alerts or had a “do not consume” public health alert in place and, for the fourth consecutive year, 100 per cent of TasWater’s reticulated water customers received water that met microbiological compliance standards.
TasWater also continued perform at or very close to standards relating to the treatment of effluent from its sewerage systems and the reuse of biosolids produced by its treatment plants. However, liquid effluent reuse was at lowest levels since 2013, with just 7.7 per cent reused.
TasWater’s call centre answered 85 per cent of calls within 30 seconds, meeting its performance standard and significantly better than the median performance of similar sized water utilities on mainland Australia. However, the number of customer complaints increased by almost 12 per cent compared to the previous year. Water quality, including taste, colour and odour, continued to be the most common reason for customer complaints.
The number of residential customers repaying a debt continued to grow, as did average debt levels. At the end of 2021-22, 5 201 customers were repaying an average debt of $1 312. The number of customers on TasWater’s hardship program fell slightly, but the average debt of customers entering the program increased by $405 to $2 614. No customers had their water supply restricted for non-payment in 2021-22.
The Tasmanian Economic Regulator continues to be concerned by the very high percentage of treated water that is not supplied to TasWater’s customers. TasWater estimated that 29 per cent of the water it produced was unaccounted for, an increase from 25 per cent in 2020-21. Whilst the level of unaccounted for water continues to reflect inefficiencies in TasWater’s water systems, TasWater has committed to addressing this issue and Tasmanian Economic Regulator is hopeful that the delivery of TasWater’s Non-Revenue Water Reduction Strategy will reduce water losses over the coming years.
TasWater’s prices for water and sewerage services increased by 3.5 per cent in 2021-22. This was the first price increase in three years, with prices frozen by TasWater in the previous two years to provide relief to customers dealing with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The typical annual water and sewerage bill for a residential customer was $1 232, based on the average consumption of 178 kilolitres of water. Tasmanian households paid slightly more than their interstate counterparts, based on an illustrative consumption of 200 kilolitres of water per year.
TasWater’s underlying profit, which excludes contributed assets revenue, was $31.9 million in 2021-22, compared to $16.3 million in 2020-21. Total capital expenditure rose by 42.5 per cent to $253 million, $23 million more than forecast in TasWater’s 2022-26 Corporate Plan. TasWater reported that this was largely due to progress in the delivery of its accelerated capital program to renew, improve and grow water and sewerage infrastructure.
Media release – TasWater, 16 June 2023
State of the Industry Report 2021-2022 released
TasWater welcomes the Tasmanian Economic Regulator’s State of the Industry Report (2021-22) which recognises continued success in meeting performance targets.
The independent report provides both an overview and the identification of key priorities to improve the performance of water and sewerage services in Tasmania.
TasWater CEO George Theo said highlights from the State of the Industry Report included the achievement of 100 per cent microbiological compliance of our drinking water for the fourth year in a row.
“We’ve come a long way, removing all permanent public health alerts across Tasmania through the 24glasses Regional Towns Water Supply Program.
“We continue to improve drinking water quality for Tasmanians, delivering another 12 months of 100% compliance across 60 separate drinking water systems through the state – supplying more than 200,000 households and businesses,” Mr Theo said.
The report also noted 96% of disposed biosolids were beneficially reused.
“Our biosolids management program means that we are keeping waste out of landfill, instead repurposing it through composting and agricultural use, which is a better outcome for the environment.”
Mr Theo said the report also showed TasWater’s residential bills were nationally competitive.
“Freezing prices for two consecutive years has provided relief to our customers, with the average residential bill remaining close to the national median.
“Going forward, our customers benefit from water price certainty with modest 3.5% increases each year for the next four years. In the context of escalating cost of living we are proud to deliver affordable services to our community.
The Economic Regulator also pointed out areas where we still have work to do, citing unaccounted for water as an ongoing issue.
“We are currently delivering the largest capital upgrade program in TasWater’s history, investing $1.8B in essential water and sewerage infrastructure. Recent water main improvement renewal includes projects in Bellerive, Wesley Vale and Burnie,” Mr Theo said.
“We have also been implementing active leakage management through the roll-out of more than 250 flow meters as part of our District Metered Areas project. This project identifies leaks that don’t come to surface so that we can undertake repairs across our extensive water network of 6,545km.
“Overall, the results from the report are pleasing, although we acknowledge there is more to do and we are committed to improving outcomes for our customers, communities and the environment.”
