![\"Girl](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/c0f114ac3ad7f15c15e497d3250dcb5b.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nWater bills for Tasmanian households and small businesses will rise by an average of 5.7 per cent each year for the next four years, after the Economic Regulator handed down a decision on TasWater’s pricing structure.<\/p>\n
It means an estimated average increase of $80 for households in 2026\u201327, taking the yearly bill to $1,487.<\/p>\n
For tenants, who cannot be passed on the fixed component of the bill, the average yearly cost will rise by $25, with small businesses hit by an increase of $172.<\/p>\n
By 2030, customers would pay up to 25 per cent more than in 2026, as opposed to 40 per cent under TasWater’s original proposal.<\/p>\n
Last year, TasWater applied to the regulator for an 11.5 per cent average increase over the period, sparking outcry from community groups, the state government and the opposition.<\/p>\n
In a draft determination released in February this year, regulator Joe Dimasi knocked that back \u2014 instead proposing 4.3 per cent.<\/p>\n
At the time, he said it was “not prudent” for TasWater to attempt all of the infrastructure works it was looking to fund through customer increases.<\/p>\n
Original ‘high burden’ plan dismissed<\/p>\n
When announcing the 5.7 per cent increase today, Mr Dimasi said he had taken a “revised approach” and that updated inflation interest rate forecasts had also affected the final decision.<\/p>\n
However, he maintained his criticism of TasWater’s original infrastructure investment plans.<\/p>\n
“Most Tasmanians appear to understand the need for investment, but TasWater’s proposal would have placed a very high burden on households and local businesses at a time when cost\u2011of\u2011living pressures are already significant.”<\/p>\n
In its original pricing proposal, TasWater had planned a $1.67 billion infrastructure program. It will instead be given a $1.18 billion allowance.<\/p>\n
Mr Dimasi also said there had been an “unprecedented level of public engagement” on the pricing proposal and that he had received 102 submissions.<\/p>\n
“I would like to thank everyone who took the time to make a submission and share their views.”TasWater reviewing decision<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for TasWater said in a statement that the company welcomed the final determination.<\/p>\n
“Our focus now is on understanding what the decision means for our customers, communities and the services we deliver,” they said.<\/p>\n
“We’re carefully reviewing the detail and will share further information once that work is complete.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
For renters, who cannot be passed on the fixed component of the bill, the average yearly cost will rise by $25. (Unsplash<\/a>: ManuelTheLensman<\/a>)<\/p>\n The utility, which is jointly owned by local councils and the state government, expressed disappointment in February with the Economic Regulator’s draft 4.3 per cent decision.<\/p>\n Chief financial officer Kane Ingham told reporters that delaying the planned works, which focused on aging sewerage assets, would risk waterway closures.<\/p>\n “We feel really strongly that now is the time to address these issues, otherwise we risk placing these problems on future Tasmanian generations, most likely at a greater cost and greater consequence,” he said.<\/p>\n Labor Treasury spokesperson Dean Winter said the party “congratulates the Economic Regulator for rejecting TasWater’s ridiculous proposal”, calling for dividends paid to council to be kept in check.<\/p>\n Sewage charges to change<\/p>\n Currently, TasWater customers pay a fixed charge for sewage, a fixed charge for water and then a variable charge for the amount of water they use.<\/p>\n The economic regulator has allowed TasWater to begin charging a variable charge for the amount of sewage.<\/p>\n It will start at 22 cents per kilolitre of sewage in 2026\u201327, before rising to 27 cents by 2029\u201330.<\/p>\n TasWater had also proposed changing the tariff structure to make variable charges form a greater proportion of a customer’s bill.<\/p>\n The Economic Regulator says it is generally supportive of that move as it would “encourage efficient water use”, but that more work is needed.<\/p>\n He found that TasWater “had not yet demonstrated that its proposed pricing structures were sufficiently supported by robust cost modelling, transparent methodologies, or comprehensive analysis of customer impacts.”<\/p>\n Under the approved structure, fixed charges would decrease from around 85 per cent of a bill in 2025\u201326 to 81 per cent in 2029\u201330.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Water bills for Tasmanian households and small businesses will rise by an average of 5.7 per cent each…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640233,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,75,128,310012,310013,310014,103094],"class_list":["post-640232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-taswater","tag-water-bills","tag-water-charges","tag-water-use"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}