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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-02-17 Daily Xml
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SA WATER

The Hon. J.A. DARLEY (16:52): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Mineral Resources Development, representing the Minister for Water Security, questions regarding SA Water's billing procedures.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.A. DARLEY: In July 2008, the Treasurer admitted that SA Water had been issuing incorrect accounts to its ratepayers, which saw SA Water prematurely charging ratepayers a rate for water that was not to come into effect until 1 July 2008. Following this fiasco, SA Water issued thousands of ex gratia payments to ratepayers to correct the error. The payments were made in the form of a cheque and were later shown on accounts as an adjustment.

I understand that recently many ratepayers have been confused by a further adjustment to their account. When queried about these adjustments, SA Water indicated that the initial adjustment last year was incorrect and that a further correction was necessary to ensure the correct amount was refunded. My questions are:

1. Can the minister confirm that further adjustments were made by SA Water as a result of its incorrectly calculating the initial refund?

2. Why were additional errors made on these relatively simple calculations?

3. What was the further cost of correcting this second error?

4. Can the minister give an assurance that all future accounts will be correct?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Small Business) (16:54): I will refer the honourable member's question to the Minister for Water Security in another place and bring back a reply.

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