While TasWater has publicly highlighted its achievements, the Tasmanian Economic Regulator’s recently released “Report on the State of the Tasmanian Water and Sewerage Industry 2023–24” paints a more nuanced picture, revealing several areas where the utility’s performance fell short of expected standards.
The Regulator’s findings suggest a mixed bag for TasWater, with concerning trends emerging in key service delivery aspects.
Despite TasWater’s celebratory announcement of 100% microbiological compliance in drinking water and an admirable reduction in “unaccounted for water” (from 28.1% to 24.5%), the Regulator’s report underscores critical shortcomings that directly impact Tasmanian households and businesses.
Perhaps the most striking divergence between TasWater’s self-assessment and the Regulator’s findings lies in customer service.
While TasWater’s General Manager, Matt Balfe, stated that their Customer Service Centre answered more than 70 per cent of calls within 30 seconds, the Regulator’s report paints a far less rosy picture.
It explicitly states that only 53.4% of calls were answered within 30 seconds, a significant decline from 90.5% in the previous year. This substantial drop suggests a notable deterioration in TasWater’s ability to promptly address customer inquiries, potentially leaving many Tasmanians frustrated by long wait times.
Furthermore, the Regulator raised concerns about network reliability. While acknowledging an improvement in water main breaks, bursts, and leaks, the report pointedly noted an increase in the number of sewer breaks and chokes.
Crucially, the Regulator stated that “in both cases, TasWater’s performance was not at the level required by its service standards.”
This indicates that despite ongoing investment, the utility is struggling to maintain consistent reliability across its vast network, leading to disruptions for residents and potential environmental impacts.
The Regulator’s report also provided a more transparent look at the financial burden on customers.
The report shed light on customer debt, revealing that 4,115 residential customers were repaying a debt at the end of 2023-24, with the average debt increasing to $1,512.
It also noted that 927 customers were on TasWater’s hardship program, facing an average debt of $3,162 when entering the program. These details, notably absent from TasWater’s own press release, highlight the financial pressures some customers are experiencing.
While TasWater is keen to highlight its positive strides, particularly in water quality and unaccounted for water reduction, the Tasmanian Economic Regulator’s report offers a more critical and comprehensive assessment.
It reveals concerning dips in customer service responsiveness and persistent issues with sewer network reliability, suggesting that despite significant capital investment, TasWater still faces considerable challenges in consistently meeting its service standards and ensuring a smooth experience for its customers.
These findings will undoubtedly be scrutinised as TasWater prepares its forthcoming Price and Service Plan 5 submission due to be submitted to the Tasmanian Economic regulator at the end of this month.
Statements from TasWater and the Tasmanian Regulator below:
Media Release – TasWater, 20 June 2025
TasWater making strong progress in service delivery and environmental outcomes
TasWater welcomes the latest Report on the State of the Tasmanian Water and Sewerage Industry 2023–24, released by the Tasmanian Economic Regulator today.
The report highlights positive momentum across several areas critical for Tasmanian communities and the environment.
TasWater General Manager Customer and Community Matt Balfe said the report covers the year ending 30 June 2024 and backs up detail contained in TasWater’s most recent annual report.
He said the report reflected the organisation’s ongoing investment and commitment to delivering safe, reliable, and sustainable water and sewerage services across Tasmania.
“The State of the Industry Report highlights our efforts to enhance water quality, boost recycled water use, improve our financial performance, and deliver critical infrastructure upgrades,” Mr Balfe said.
“We manage more than 225,000 water connections, 11,400 km of water and sewer mains, and 38 per cent of the treatment plants run by major water utilities in Australia — all to cater for just 2 per cent of the nation’s population.
“In 2023–24, we achieved 100 per cent microbiological compliance across the drinking water network, and for the second consecutive year, there were no communities subject to a boil water alert.
“This is a large, dispersed network, and while we are proud of the quality of the services we provide to our customers, we don’t shy away from the challenges we face.
‘’Reducing water losses across the network remains one of our biggest challenges. We have made progress with unaccounted for water falling from 28.1 per cent to 24.5 per cent.
‘’This is largely due to the expansion of our Non-Revenue Water Reduction Strategy, which included the installation of an additional 92 district metered areas in 2023/24 and a further 41 to date.
‘’Our Customer Service Centre continues to help customers answering more than 70 per cent of calls within 30 seconds,’’ Mr Balfe said.
Mr Balfe said TasWater’s Price and Service Plan 5, due to be submitted to the Tasmanian Economic regulator at the end of this month, will facilitate our continued efforts to recoup water losses.
‘’For decades, Tasmania’s water and sewerage infrastructure has suffered from underinvestment, which has resulted in a network that is often over stretched, outdated and in key areas, underperforming,’’ he said.
‘’If we can address the ageing infrastructure through our Price and Service Plan submission, we can protect our environment and free up capacity for growth in housing and business.’’
TasWater also recorded a 29 per cent increase in capital expenditure from the previous year, to $250.2 million.
“We have seen several capital projects completed over the last 12 months, including upgrades of the Ulverstone Sewage Treatment Plant and Orford’s sewerage network, while progress continues on the Selfs Point Sewer Transformation Project, in Hobart, and the Tamar River Health Action Plan (TERHAP) in Launceston,” Mr Balfe said.
‘’These projects allow us to continue to improve environmental outcomes for Tasmania and the community.’’
Mr Balfe said TasWater achieved the highest recycled water use in five years, with 11.9 per cent of treated effluent from Level 2 sewage treatment plants reused for agriculture and rehabilitation.
“As the climate changes and the potential for water restrictions increases, greater uptake of our recycled water schemes will free up treated drinking water currently used for irrigation and support economic growth in regional Tasmania.”
TasWater is investing $1.9 billion in its network over the next five years to ensure it can continue to deliver exceptional water and sewerage services for a thriving Tasmania.
Media Release – Tasmanian Economic Regulator, 20 June 2025
Report on the State of the Tasmanian Water and Sewerage Industry 2023-24
Today the Tasmanian Economic Regulator published its latest report on Tasmania’s water and sewerage industry, which it is required to prepare in the lead up to TasWater’s submission of its proposed price and service plan for 2026-30 on 30 June 2025. The Report provides a review of TasWater’s performance for the 2023-24 financial year.
The Tasmanian Economic Regulator, Mr Joe Dimasi, is pleased to report that TasWater continues to meet safe drinking water targets and has made progress on addressing the issue of unaccounted for water, reducing unaccounted for water from 28.1 per cent in 2022-23 to 24.5 per cent in 2023-24.
However, TasWater’s network reliability showed mixed performance in 2023-24. The number of water main breaks, bursts and leaks improved, but the number of sewer breaks and chokes increased. In both cases, TasWater’s performance was not at the level required by its service standards.
The Regulator reported that 99.9 per cent of the biosolids removed from TasWater’s larger sewerage treatment plants were beneficially reused in agriculture, composting and site rehabilitation and almost 12 per cent of effluent was reused, the highest level in the past five years.
TasWater also experienced customer service challenges in 2023-24. TasWater’s call centre performance declined, with only 53.4 per cent of calls being answered within 30 seconds, compared with 90.5 per cent the previous year, but its resolution of customer issues at the first point of contact remained high.
At the end of 2023-24, 4 115 residential water and sewerage customers were repaying a debt, 8.5 per cent fewer than at the end of 2022-23. The average debt increased by $87 to
$1 512. There were 927 customers on TasWater’s hardship program and the average debt at the time of entering the hardship program was $3 162.
The typical annual bill for a Tasmanian household in 2023-24 increased by $60 to $1 330. This 4.8 per cent increase from 2022-23 was partly due to a 3.5 per cent price increase and partly due to an increase in the average residential water consumption to 173kL per household.
TasWater’s underlying profit, which excludes contributed assets revenue, was $32.6 million in 2023-24, compared to $31.2 million in 2022-23. Total capital expenditure was
$269.2 million, which included the completion of the upgrades of TasWater’s Bryn Estyn water treatment plant in September 2023 and a number of other major projects. TasWater paid $24.0 million in dividends to its local government shareholders.
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