Council is conscious of the needs of its consumers which require a reliable and high-quality water supply that complies with the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines. Council is also aware of ensuring that its pricing policies must permit the renewal and upgrading of its water network infrastructure so that current service levels can be maintained into the future.

The following principles are applied in the Revenue Policy:
1. Full cost recovery inclusive of both direct and indirect costs.
2. Seeking to achieve an operating surplus before capital amounts each financial year.
3. Ability to fund the Capital Program to maintain service levels by renewing ageing infrastructure.
4. Infrastructure is upgraded where is required to maintain service to standards of service for users needs
5. Statutory charges are applied in accord with legislative requirements.
6. Capacity to service any borrowing requirements.
7. Price changes are communicated to consumers on a timely basis.

Council applies the principles of the Regulatory Assurance Framework (RAF) developed by the Department of Climate Change, Environment, Energy and Water when it comes to determining its fees and charges.

In summary, the following pricing regime exists for Central Tablelands Water:
1. A two-part pricing policy of an availability (access) charge, determined on the diameter of the meter, and a straight-line consumption charge.
2. There are no non-residential cross subsidies.
3. Water accounts are rendered quarterly so that users have a timely record of consumption and costs.
4. Development Service Charges are set in accord with methodology set down in accord with the Development Servicing Plan

Council has reviewed its Revenue Policy for 2024/25 with the main features being:
1. An increase in the consumption charge of 3.13% from $3.84 to $3.96 per kiloliter (kl) to assist with funding the large water supply network.
2. Availability charges will increase by 7.35% and applied in accordance with the Flow Capacity Factors outlined below. (Meter size of service connection, determines the load that a service can put upon the network)
3. Bulk Supply Water charges to other Councils will rise to $2.38 per kl.                                                                                                                                      4. Development contributions have been set in accordance the 2021 Development Servicing Plan (DSP). (as per the movement in the Sydney CPI)
5. Legal Expenses incurred for debt recovery purposes now includes all associated costs including early stage and late-stage intervention in accordance with Council’s Water Charges Debt Recovery Policy.
6. Section 603 Certificate fees have been set at the approved of $100 in accord with the advice from the Office of Local Government.
7. Special Reading Fees have been set at $100.
8. The fee at Council’s automatic filling stations will be set at $8.70 per kl.
9. The fee at Council’s standpipes will be set at $10.00 per kl.
10. Service connection fees and private works have been increased by 7% to reflect the cost of providing these services in particular employee       wages and materials.
11. The processing fee for customer requested account refunds will be set at $50.00. This only applies if more than one request is made in each financial year.
12. In accordance with the directive of the Office of Local Government (OLG) interest applied on overdue accounts will be at the rate of 10.5%.
13. The fee for undertaking pressure and flow testing requested by consumers will be $270.00 to provide for recovery of costs including administration

Availability charges will increase from $272.00 to $292.00 pa ($68.00 to $73.00 per quarter) for a 20mm service connection. This is an increase of approximately 7.35%. This is aimed to reduce the reliance on water user charges and to reduce revenue volatility due to adverse climatic conditions.

It is notable that unlike some local water utilities Council does not levy an availability charge for unconnected vacant properties as permitted by Section 552 of the Local Government Act. Section 552 permits an availability charge to be levied where an unconnected vacant property is located within 225 meters of a Council trunk main, and the property is capable of being supplied water.

The overall impact the water access and user charges have on a consumer that uses the average residential consumption of 140kls per annum is an increase of around 71 cents per week or 4.55%.

Based on a consumption of 300kls per annum the increase overall in water charges in 24/25 is $1.08 per week. ($56.00 annually) This increase is necessary to cover the rising costs including but not limited to wages, depreciation and materials.

The availability charge is calculated by multiplying the charge for a standard 20mm connection by the flow capacity factor (FCF) listed in the Flow Capacity Table below.

Flow Capacity Table 

An ET is calculated in accordance with the Section 64 Determination of Equivalent Tenement (ET) Guidelines, published by the NSW Water Directorate. It is important to note that blocks exceeding 2,000m2 in size are considered in the guidelines to exceed 1 ET.

The Developer Charges for the Lake Rowlands supply area have been increased by 4.1% being the CPI for Sydney for the past year (movement Dec 22 to Dec 23 - ABS 6401). The fee will be set at $7,179 per equivalent tenement. The capital contribution charge (for infill developments) in the Lake Rowlands supply area has also been set at $7,179 per equivalent tenement.

The capital contribution charge for all vacant unbuilt upon land within the Quandialla supply area is proposed to be $3,590 per ET. Funds raised by this charge will be set aside for renewal and augmentation (if required) of the Quandialla Scheme network infrastructure.