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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-03-14 Daily Xml
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WATER INDUSTRY BILL

Final Stages

The Legislative Council agreed to the bill with the amendments indicated by the following schedule, to which amendments the Legislative Council desires the concurrence of the House of Assembly:

No. 1. Clause 4, page 9, after line 25—Insert:

River Murray has the same meaning as in the River Murray Act 2003;

No. 2. Clause 18, page 18, after line 18—Insert:

(6) In connection with the operation of this section—

(a) the Minister must establish a set of community service obligations that require SA Water to continue to provide services within those areas of the State in which services are provided immediately before the commencement of subsection (2) unless the Minister grants an approval for the discontinuance of any such service; and

(b) if the Minister grants an approval under paragraph (a), the Minister must immediately prepare a report in relation to the matter and cause copies of the report to be laid before both Houses of Parliament within 6 sitting days after the approval is given.

No. 3. Clause 24, page 20, after line 26—Insert:

(3a) The Treasurer must, within 14 days after the receipt of a report under subsection (3), cause a copy of the report to be published on the Department of Treasury and Finance's website.

No. 4. Clause 25, page 22, after line 20—Insert:

(1a) The Commission must, in acting under subsection (1), have regard to the scale and nature of the operations of the water industry entity (with the scale and nature being determined by the Commission after consultation with the entity or a person or body nominated by the entity).

No. 5. Clause 25, page 22, line 25—Delete ', if the Minister so requires,'

No. 6. Clause 26, page 23, after line 15—Insert:

(4) The Minister must use his or her best endeavours to introduce into Parliament within 9 months after the commencement of this section a Bill for an Act to provide for a third party access regime to water infrastructure and sewerage infrastructure services operated by entities licensed under this Part (after taking into account the contents of the report prepared under subsection (1) and any other relevant factor).

No. 7. New Division, page 27, after line 3—Insert:

Division 4A—Customer hardship policies

36A—Customer hardship policies

(1) The Minister must develop and publish a customer hardship policy in respect of the residential customers of water industry entities that sets out—

(a) processes to identify residential customers experiencing payment difficulties due to hardship, including identification by a water industry entity and self identification by a residential customer; and

(b) an outline of a range of processes or programs that a water industry entity should use or apply to assist customers identified under paragraph (a).

(2) The Minister may vary a policy under subsection (1) from time to time.

(3) A water industry entity must—

(a) adopt a customer hardship policy published by the Minister under this section; or

(b) with the approval of the Commission, adopt such a policy with modifications.

(4) It will be a condition of a water industry entity's licence that it complies with the customer hardship policy applying in relation to the entity under subsection (3).

(5) In this section—

residential customer means a customer or consumer who is supplied with retail services for use at residential premises.

No. 8. Clause 80, page 59, line 21—Delete 'Subject to subsection (2), a' and substitute:

A natural

No. 9. Clause 80, page 59, lines 24 to 42—Delete subclause (2)

No. 10. New clause, page 65, after line 1—Insert:

85A—Consumer advocacy and research fund

(1) The Consumer Advocacy and Research Fund is established.

(2) The Fund must be kept as directed by the Treasurer.

(3) The Fund consists of—

(a) the amount of $250,000 (indexed) paid into the fund on an annual basis (at a time determined by the Treasurer) from the total amount of annual licence fees payable under section 24 attributable to designated prescribed costs in any particular financial year; and

(b) any money provided by Parliament for the purposes of the Fund; and

(c) any income arising from investment of the Fund under subsection (4); and

(d) any additional money that is paid into the Fund under a determination of the Treasurer; and

(e) any other money that is required or authorised by another law to be paid into the Fund.

(4) The Fund may be invested as approved by the Treasurer.

(5) The Minister may apply the Fund—

(a) to support research or advocacy that promotes the interests of consumers with a disability, low-income consumers, or consumers who are located within a regional area of the State; or

(b) to support projects that advance the interests of consumers from an advocacy perspective; or

(c) in making any other payment required by another law to be made from the Fund; or

(d) in payment of the expenses of administering the Fund.

(6) The administrative unit of the Public Service that is, under the Minister, responsible for the administration of this Act must, on or before 30 September in each year, present a report to that Minister on the operation of the Fund during the previous financial year.

(7) A report under subsection (6) may be incorporated into the annual report of the relevant administrative unit.

(8) The Minister must cause a copy of the report to be laid before both Houses of Parliament within 12 sitting days after the report is received by that Minister.

(9) The amount of $250,000 (indexed) referred to in subsection (3)(a) is to be adjusted on 1 July of each year (commencing on 1 July 2013) by multiplying that amount by a proportion obtained by dividing the Consumer Price Index for the immediately preceding March quarter by the Consumer Price Index for the March quarter, 2011.

(10) In this section—

Consumer Price Index means the Consumer Price Index (All groups index for Adelaide) published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

No. 11. Clause 91, page 69, after line 22—Insert:

(11a) This section does not apply in relation to land—

(a) if the land is not supplied with water by a retail service provider; or

(b) if water supplied to the land by a retail service provider is supplied as part of a water supply system that is not in any way connected to a water resource that is sourced (directly or indirectly and wholly or in part) from the River Murray.

No. 12. New clause, page 71, after line 23—Insert:

96A—Scheme to install separate meters on all properties

(1) The Commission must prepare and publish a report on the implementation of a scheme that is designed to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that all land—

(a) that is owned by the South Australian Housing Trust or another agency or instrumentality of the Crown; and

(b) that is used for residential purposes; and

(c) that is subject to a separate occupation; and

(d) that is supplied with water by a water industry entity as part of a reticulated water system,

will have a meter that records the amount of water supplied to that piece of land.

(2) The scheme must address—

(a) the fitting of meters to premises existing at the time of the publication of the report (insofar as meters are not fitted); and

(b) the fitting of meters to premises constructed after the publication of the report.

(3) The report must be published by 30 June 2013.

(4) In connection with subsection (2), the scheme must set out a program under which all existing premises supplied with water by SA Water as part of a reticulated water system (and falling within the ambit of subsection (1)) will be fitted with a meter as envisaged by subsection (2) by 31 December 2016.

(5) This section does not apply to premises where it is not reasonably practicable to fit a separate meter.

(6) Without limiting the extent to which the Commission may consult for the purposes of this section, the Commission must specifically consult with SA Water about the program that must be established under subsection (4).

No. 13. New clause, page 77, after line 5—Insert:

110A—Protection of tenants and lessees of residential premises

(1) This section applies in relation to a tenant or lessee occupying residential premises.

(2) A water industry entity must not, in relation to a tenant or lessee who is a consumer—

(a) take action to recover from the tenant or lessee any amount for which the landlord or lessor is legally liable; or

(b) take action to recover from a tenant or lessee any amount on account of any default on the part of the landlord or the lessor; or

(c) take other action against the tenant or lessee on account of any default on the part of the landlord or lessor unless such action is reasonably justified in the circumstances and is in accordance with any relevant provision prescribed by the regulations or contained in a code or set of rules published by the Commission for the purposes of this section.

No. 14. New clause, page 78, after line 17—Insert:

112—Review of Act

(1) The Minister must cause a review of the operation of this Act to be conducted as soon as practicable after the expiry of 5 years from its commencement.

(2) The results of the review must be embodied in a written report.

(3) The Minister must, within 6 sitting days after receiving the report under subsection (2), cause a copy of the report to be laid before both Houses of Parliament.

No. 15. Schedule 2, clause 2, page 79, after line 12—Insert:

(2) Section 33(1)(d)(vii)—delete 'the South Australian Water Corporation' and substitute:

a water industry entity under the Water Industry Act 2012 identified under the regulations

No. 16. Schedule 2, page 80, after line 11—Insert:

4A—Amendment of section 222—Permits for business purposes

Section 222—after subsection (5) insert:

(6) This section does not apply to any water/sewerage infrastructure established or used (or to be established or used) by or on behalf of a water industry entity under the Water Industry Act 2011.

(7) In this section—

water/sewerage infrastructure has the same meaning as in the Water Industry Act 2011.

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