Coliban Water Final Decision
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Coliban Water final decision 2018 Water Price Review 19 June 2018 An appropriate citation for this paper is: Essential Services Commission 2018, Coliban Water final decision: 2018 Water Price Review, 19 June Copyright notice © Essential Services Commission, 2018 This work, Coliban Water final decision, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence [creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0]. You are free to re-use the work under that licence, on the condition that you credit the Essential Services Commission as author, indicate if changes were made and comply with the other licence terms. The licence does not apply to any brand logo, images or photographs within the publication. i Essential Services Commission Coliban Water final decision Contents Summary iv 1. Our role and approach to water pricing 1 2. Our assessment of Coliban Water’s price submission 5 Regulatory period 5 Customer engagement 6 Outcomes 6 Service Standards 7 Guaranteed service levels 8 Revenue requirement 9 Operating expenditure 10 Regulatory asset base 15 Closing regulatory asset base 15 Forecast regulatory asset base 16 Capital expenditure 17 Customer contributions 20 Cost of debt 21 Return on equity – PREMO rating 22 Regulatory depreciation 23 Tax allowance 24 Demand 24 Form of price control 25 Tariff structures and prices 25 Existing tariff structures 25 Tariff changes 26 Mid-period tariff changes 27 Unique services 27 Prices 28 Adjusting prices 29 New customer contributions 30 Financial position 32 3. PREMO rating 33 Our review of Coliban Water’s PREMO rating 33 Appendix A – submissions received on draft decision 37 Appendix B – approved service standards 38 Appendix C – approved GSL schemes 39 Contents ii Essential Services Commission Coliban Water final decision Appendix D – rate of return 41 Contents iii Essential Services Commission Coliban Water final decision Summary In September 2017, Coliban Water provided a submission to us proposing prices for a five year period starting 1 July 2018 In March 2017, we released our draft decision on Coliban Water’s price submission.1 The draft decision set out our preliminary views on Coliban Water’s proposals, and invited interested parties to make further submissions. We also held a public meeting in April 2018. In addition to a submission from Coliban Water, we received 10 written submissions on our draft decision, which are available on our website. After considering feedback, we have made a price determination for Coliban Water.2 The price determination sets out the maximum prices Coliban Water may charge for prescribed services (or the manner in which its prices are to be calculated, determined, or otherwise regulated) for the five year period from 1 July 2018 (2018-23). This final decision paper sets out our supporting reasons and analysis for the price determination. Where our final decision on a particular aspect is unchanged from our draft decision, we have not detailed the supporting reasons in our final decision. Rather, we have noted that our final decision confirms the reasons and position we reached in the draft decision. Where we have reached a different decision to that proposed in our draft decision, or where new information required our consideration, we have set out our reasons in full in this final decision. This final decision should be read in conjunction with our draft decision. Our final decision has updated the revenue to be collected by Coliban Water Our final decision approves a revenue requirement of $605.7 million over the five year period starting 1 July 2018.3 This is $7.9 million or 1.3 per cent higher than our draft decision, and mainly reflects our final decision on Coliban Water’s return on equity and PREMO rating (see from page 22). 1 Clause 16 of the Water Industry Regulatory Order 2014 requires us to issue a draft decision. Coliban Water’s price submission and our draft decision are available at www.esc.vic.gov.au/waterpricereview. 2 Before the commencement of a regulatory period, clause 10 of the Water Industry Regulatory Order 2014 requires us to make a price determination which determines the maximum prices a water corporation may charge, or the manner in which its prices are to be calculated, determined or otherwise regulated during the regulatory period. See Essential Services Commission 2018, Coliban Water Determination: 1 July 2018 – 30 June 2023, June. 3 The revenue requirement is the forecast amount a water corporation needs to deliver on customer outcomes, government policy, and obligations monitored by technical regulators including the Environment Protection Authority Victoria and the Department of Health and Human Services. Along with forecast demand, it is an input to calculating the prices to be charged by a water corporation. Summary iv Essential Services Commission Coliban Water final decision A summary of approved maximum prices for major services delivered by Coliban Water is set out from page 28. The estimated typical bill impacts for residential customers of Coliban Water’s proposal and our final decision are provided in Table A. Typical bills for an owner-occupier will fall by around $26 in 2018-19, and fall by around $8 for a tenant (in constant price $2018-19 terms). Table A Estimated typical water and sewerage bills $ 2018-19 Average 2017-18 2018-19 2022-23 Customer group consumption annual bill annual bill annual bill (kL p.a.) Residential (Owner occupier) 188 $1,365 $1,339 $1,277 Residential (Tenant) 188 $432 $424 $404 Note: Numbers have been rounded Coliban Water will improve services Our final decision approves prices that will allow Coliban Water to deliver on its customer service commitments, government policy, and obligations monitored by the Environment Protection Authority Victoria and the Department of Health and Human Services. Some of the ways Coliban Water plans to improve outcomes for customers are by: reducing prices increasing its support for customers experiencing bill payment difficulty investing in water quality improvements for a number of towns increasing the ways customers can communicate and receive information from the business. We have accepted Coliban Water’s proposed tariff structures Our final decision approves Coliban Water’s existing tariff structures. For water services, we have approved Coliban Water’s proposed fixed service charge and a variable component that depends on water used. For residential sewerage services, we have approved Coliban Water’s proposal for a fixed service charge only. For non-residential sewerage services we have approved Coliban Water’s proposal for a fixed service charge and a variable component. These reflect a continuation of its existing tariff structures. Our final decision also approves Coliban Water’s proposed price cap form of price control. This means its maximum prices are fixed subject to updates for inflation, and any other price adjustments we approve in our price determination. Coliban Water currently uses a price cap. Summary v Essential Services Commission Coliban Water final decision For more detail on tariffs and the form of price control, see from page 24. Coliban Water’s price submission is rated as ‘Advanced’ under PREMO Our draft decision proposed to approve an overall PREMO rating of ‘Standard’ for Coliban Water’s price submission. This was lower than the ‘Advanced’ rating proposed by Coliban Water. Our draft decision acknowledged that Coliban Water’s price submission was built on strong customer engagement and robust cost management. Coliban Water committed to improving service outcomes and expand its guaranteed service level program, thereby increasing accountability on the business to deliver on customer service targets. Coliban Water also proposed a price fall of one per cent per year from 2018-19. Our reduced rating in the draft decision reflected our assessment of Coliban Water’s initial proposals relating to the Risk element of PREMO. Whereas the PREMO framework was concerned with the transfer of risk between businesses and customers, some of the elements of Coliban Water’s price submission sought to shift risk between present and future customers. Our draft decision acknowledged these different elements of risk, and invited Coliban Water to reconsider its approach. Coliban Water’s response to our draft decision addressed concerns we had with its approach. In particular, it withdrew its proposal for a financial viability adjustment. Our final decision approves a rating of ‘Standard’ for Risk, up from ‘Basic’ in our draft decision. Our final decision confirms the ‘Advanced’ rating for the ‘Outcomes’, ‘Management’ and ‘Engagement’ elements of PREMO that we approved in our draft decision. Our overall PREMO rating for Coliban Water changes from ‘Standard’ in our draft decision to ‘Advanced’ for our final decision. Figure A summarises our final decision on PREMO. More detail on our assessment of Coliban Water’s PREMO rating is provided in Chapter 3. Coliban Water is one of nine businesses for which we have approved an ‘Advanced’ PREMO price submission rating (Figure B). Our PREMO rating is an assessment of the water corporation’s price submission. It is not an assessment of the water corporation itself. Figure A PREMO Rating Overall Risk Engagement Management Outcomes PREMO rating Coliban Water’s rating Advanced Advanced Advanced Advanced Advanced Commission’s rating Advanced Standard Advanced Advanced Advanced Summary vi Essential Services Commission Coliban Water final decision Figure B Final decision on PREMO – overall rating Leading Advanced Standard Basic Not rated Goulburn Valley Barwon Water East Gippsland Wannon Water South Gippsland Water Water Water Central Highlands Water Gippsland Water Western Water * City West Water Lower Murray Water (urban) Coliban Water Westernport Water GWMWater North East Water South East Water Southern Rural Water Yarra Valley Water * We have not assessed Western Water under PREMO, as prior to lodging its price submission it notified us of its intention to target a short-term pricing outcome rather than the overall value for money outcome expected under PREMO.