How prices are set

The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal of NSW (IPART) determines the prices that customers pay for water, wastewater, stormwater and other services in Sydney, the Blue Mountains and the Illawarra through periodic reviews.

On 16 June 2008 IPART released its final determination of Sydney Water prices from 2008-09 to 2011-12.

Price rises will fund Sydney Water commitments under the Metropolitan Water Plan to increase our water supply in the context of climate change and population growth, including:

• Sydney's desalination plant to provide up to 250 million litres a day (70 billion litres a year) by 2015
• Several large recycling schemes to increase the recycled water supply to 12 per cent of Sydney's needs
• Demand management schemes for businesses and householders to save a further 20 per cent of Sydney's water needs
• Replacing, renewing and building infrastructure to ensure better performance by the water system and to meet Sydney’s growth.

The new prices start from 1 July 2009.

Sydney Water has a financial assistance program to help customers on limited incomes or with special needs to pay their bills and save water.