Council is conscious of the needs of its consumers which require a reliable and high quality water supply. Council is also aware of ensuring that its pricing policies must permit the renewal and upgrading of its water network infrastructure so that high service levels can be maintained.

The following principles are applied in the Revenue Policy:

1. Full cost recovery inclusive of both direct and indirect costs.
2. Achieving an operating surplus before capital amounts each year.
3. Ability to fund the Capital Program to maintain service levels by renewing ageing infrastructure.
4. Statutory charges are applied in accord with legislative requirements.
5. Capacity to service borrowing requirements.
6. Price changes are communicated to consumers on a timely basis.

Council has followed the Best Practice Pricing of Local Water Utility services as outlined in the Department of Industry - Water Best Practice Management of Water Supply and Sewerage Guidelines. 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 consumers have a timely record of consumption and costs.
4. Development Service Charges are set in accord with methodology set down in accord with the guidelines.

Council has reviewed its Revenue Policy for 2023/24 with the main features being:

1. An increase in the consumption charge of 4.07% from $3.69 to $3.84 per kilolitre (kl) in accordance with its need to provide funding of the large capital works program.
2. Availability charges will increase by 6.25% and applied in accordance with the Flow Capacity Factors outlined below. (meter size of service connection, determines the load that a service can put on the network)
3. Bulk Supply Water charges to other Councils have risen to $2.31 per kl.
4. Development contributions have been set in accordance the 2021 Development Servicing Plan (DSP).
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 will be $90.00 in line with the Office of Local Government determination. This may change when advice is received from the Office of Local Government regarding the fee for 2023/24.
7. Special Reading Fees will also be set at $90.00 to align with the Sec 603 Certificate fee. Please note that this may change when the Office of Local Government advises of the 2023/24 Section 603 Certificate Fee
8. The fee at Council’s automatic filling stations will be set at $8.50 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 5% to reflect the cost of providing these services.
11. The processing fee for customer requested account refunds will be set at $47.00. 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 specified under the Local Government Act. The OLG is yet to set this rate for 2023/24.
13. The fee for undertaking pressure and flow testing requested by consumers will be $260.00

Availability charges will increase from $256.00 to $272.00 pa ($64.00 to $68.00 per quarter) for a 20mm service connection. This is an increase of approximately 6.25%. It should be noted that Council will review availability charges annually in accordance with the Best Practice Water Pricing guidelines. The Availability Charge is levied to enable customers to access the large water supply infrastructure network held by Council.

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 metres 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 175kl per annum is an increase of around 82 cents per week or 4.81%. Based on a consumption of 300kl per annum the increase overall in water charges in 23/24 is $1.17 per week or 4.5%.

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 to be defined in the guidelines to exceed 1 ET.

Councils 2021 Draft Development Servicing Plan (DSP) covering the Lake Rowlands Supply Area has calculated the fee at $6,890 per ET for the Developer Servicing Charge . This represents a increase of 7.6% in accord  with the Consumer Price Index for Sydney in the preceding 12 months. (based on Dec 21 to Dec 22 movement)

The User Fees and Charges also contains a capital contribution charge for developments on existing vacant unconnected land, not subject to subdivision (in-fill blocks), within all towns and villages, with the exception of Quandialla. This charge is also  indexed on 1 July each year in accordance with the change in the Consumer Price Index for Sydney in the preceding 12 months to December. The capital contribution charge on existing vacant unconnected land for 2023/24 is $6,890 per ET. This fee is in line with the Developer Servicing Charge.

The Capital Contribution Charge for all vacant unbuilt upon land within the Quandialla supply area is proposed to be $3,445 per ET. Funds raised by this charge will be set aside for renewal and augmentation (if required) of the Quandialla Scheme network infrastructure.