Pricing of Water, Wastewater and Stormwater Services
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Pricing of water, wastewater and stormwater 8 services Technical Paper 8 . Hunter Water undertook a detailed survey of residential customer views on price structures and levels for water and wastewater services. We incorporated this feedback as we were developing proposed prices, along with considering the cost of service and customer impacts. Our proposed water usage charge was calculated in accordance with IPART’s pricing principles. The water usage charge increases by one per cent per year to $2.51 per kL in 2024-25. This is in line with our long-run marginal cost estimates of $2.50 per kL to $4.00 per kL. We propose to continue the transition towards a common wastewater service charge for the owners of houses and apartments – an additional 2.5 per cent per year for those living in apartments. We propose an annual 5.8 per cent real increase in stormwater charges for all stormwater customers, in line with the increase in the stormwater revenue requirement. We provide 24 one page summaries showing the bill impacts of proposed prices for a cross-section of residential and non-residential customers. TECHNICAL PAPER 8 HUNTER WATER 2019 2 Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 3 2. Water prices ............................................................................................................................ 3 2.1 Current water prices ................................................................................................................. 3 2.2 Proposed water usage price and service charge ......................................................................... 5 3. Wastewater prices ................................................................................................................ 25 3.1 Current wastewater price structure and prices .......................................................................... 25 3.2 Proposed wastewater usage and service charges ...................................................................... 29 4. Stormwater prices ................................................................................................................. 42 4.1 Current stormwater charges .................................................................................................... 42 4.2 Regulatory precedent ............................................................................................................. 43 4.3 Proposed stormwater charges ................................................................................................. 43 5. Bill impacts ............................................................................................................................ 46 6. Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................ 72 7. References ............................................................................................................................ 73 TECHNICAL PAPER 8 HUNTER WATER 2019 3 1. Introduction Hunter Water has calculated water, wastewater and stormwater prices that allow the recovery of proposed target revenues. Proposed price structures – the recovery of revenues between residential and non- residential customers, fixed and usage charges – reflect IPART’s best practice pricing principles and past IPART decisions. We surveyed our customers as to their views on price structures and have incorporated this feedback into our proposed prices. We have transitioned any changes to current price structures, where appropriate, to mitigate bill impacts for specific customer categories. This technical paper details all of our proposed charges and prices for water, wastewater and stormwater services. Our current prices, regulatory precedent, calculation methodology and reasons for our proposed prices are documented in each section. Summary bill impacts are provided to show the combined movement in proposed prices for 24 residential and non-residential customer categories. 2. Water prices Water prices consist of a fixed service charge and volumetric usage charge. 2.1 Current water prices 2.1.1 Water usage charge The water usage charge is applied to the volume of water used by an individual customer. For a typical household customer (185 kL usage per year), usage charges make up around 80 per cent of the total annual water bill. Two rates apply: A standard rate for all consumption up to 50,000 kL – the standard charge applies to about 90 per cent of all water consumption. A location-based rate for water consumption greater than 50,000 kL per year in seven specific pricing zones – equivalent to the annual consumption of over 270 houses. All consumption under 50,000 kL is charged at the standard rate. Hunter Water’s standard water usage price is $2.39 per kL in 2019-20. 2.1.2 Water service charge The water service charge is a fixed annual charge and serves, in part, to recover the costs of providing water services that are not recovered via the water usage charge – a revenue ‘balancing’ item. A single property based service charge for water applies to all residential customers regardless of their dwelling type and metering arrangement (e.g. freestanding house or apartment). The water service charge for non-residential customers is calculated with reference to meter size. All properties with a standard 20mm diameter meter pay the same charge as residential customers. Customers with larger meters, business and industrial customers, pay higher service charges based on the number of meter equivalents. Hunter Water’s service charge for a 20mm meter is $100.88 in 2019-20. TECHNICAL PAPER 8 HUNTER WATER 2019 4 Box 1 - IPART's best practice pricing principles IPART’s best practice pricing principles state that: Prices should derive sufficient revenue to recover the prudent and efficient costs of delivering the monopoly services The price structure should match an agency’s cost structure (i.e. usage charges should reflect the marginal cost of supply, and service charges should recover remaining costs) Prices for each service should reflect the efficient cost of delivering them and the cost of servicing each customer type (i.e. no cross-subsidies between water, wastewater and stormwater customers, and no cross-subsidies between residential and non- residential customers), and Customer preferences, customer impacts and administration costs should be considered when deciding on price structures. Source: IPART, 2018, Submission Information Package, p. 10. 2.1.3 Regulatory precedent Hunter Water’s current prices are the result of changes introduced over a number of previous IPART price reviews, establishing precedent in price structures and calculation methodologies. Hunter Water has applied a user-pays philosophy based on long-run marginal cost when setting or proposing prices since the early 1980s:1 It is efficient for anyone to be allowed to use the facility (say a water supply system) who will meet the marginal cost that their use imposes on the system. The efficient cost is not the cost of turning on a tap for a few minutes (short run marginal cost) which is effectively zero. The efficient price is the price which equals the operating cost of the next increment in the size of the system. With the service priced that way, the revenue generated will cover the next step up in size, and until people are ready to pay for the next step up, they will not pay for the service, in this case water, in the volume necessary to trigger the next step. 2000 Determination Introduction of location-based water usage charges IPART’s 2000 Determination accepted Hunter Water’s proposed ‘location-based’ water usage charges for customers with water consumption above 50,000 kL – mainly industrial customers located near bulk water sources and trunk infrastructure.2 These location-based charges are lower than the standard usage charge and apply in seven defined zones. 1 Hunter District Water Board, 1982, p.10. 2 IPART, 2000, Review of prices for Hunter Water – Determination. TECHNICAL PAPER 8 HUNTER WATER 2019 5 2009 Determination Water usage prices set with reference to the long-run marginal cost of water supply IPART’s 2009 Determination introduced the concept of setting the water usage price with reference to the long-run marginal cost (LRMC) of water supply. 3 2013 Determination Standard residential water service charge IPART’s 2013 Determination set service charges in relation to the number of dwellings. Under this arrangement, the same water service charge applies across residential premise types under single ownership. This replaced meter-based charging. 4 2016 Determination Rebase of charges to 20mm meter base IPART's 2016 Determination aligned the calculation of residential and non-residential service charges through a rebase of all charges to a common 20mm meter equivalent. All residential dwellings are deemed to have a 20mm water meter and non-residential customers are charged on actual meter size relative to the 20mm meter base. 5 2.2 Proposed water usage price and service charge Hunter Water’s proposed water prices are set in accordance with IPART’s pricing principles. The usage charge is set with reference to the long-run marginal cost of water supply and customer preferences. The fixed service charge is calculated as a balancing item to allow the overall recovery of the water revenue requirement (Figure 2.1). Figure 2.1 Calculating the water usage and service charges Water