Ministerial Statement

Water Pricing

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (14:47): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Today the Essential Services Commission of South Australia handed down its draft pricing determination for the next four-year period. The draft determination process proposes a decrease in SA Water's revenues of 3 per cent over the years 2016 to 2020, which is the equivalent to a revenue reduction of $160 million across the four years. Were this to come into effect, this would flow through as a saving for consumers on their SA Water bills.

While this is to be welcomed, the government is always looking for ways to relieve household budget pressures. On top of existing water and sewerage concessions of up to $295 and $110 respectively, this government recently introduced a new cost of living concession of about $200 for more than 200,000 households. We also scrapped the Save the River Murray levy in the last state budget, providing annual savings of $40 to households, and $182 to most households and businesses.

Today's draft determination follows ESCOSA's first report as the independent regulator in 2013-14, which delivered a reduction in water prices of 6.4 per cent in 2013-14 and price increases of no more than CPI the following two years. Over the last decade, this government has made significant investments in water infrastructure. We have made significant reforms to water, such as independent economic regulation of SA Water by ESCOSA, and we have progressed the scheme to allow for third-party access to water infrastructure through the Water Industry (Third Party Access) Amendment Act 2015.

We live in the driest state of the driest continent and these measures have been taken to secure our water supplies into the future. Our population is spread over a large land mass and, despite the challenges, we deliver fresh, clean water to South Australians across the state every day. This government's pricing policies are designed to ensure fair and equitable service delivery for all South Australians, irrespective of where they live.

The draft determination is now open for consultation until 24 March. We will be working through the detail of the draft determination. I look forward to coming back to the house to advise of the final water and sewerage prices once the process is completed.