TasWater will put fixed sewerage charges on hold for non-residential customers hit hardest by its new pricing, after weeks of complaints from businesses and sporting clubs.
The utility announced this morning that sporting clubs mainly using water to irrigate their fields will move to adjusted pricing straight away, backdated to July 1.
Other customers with large water connections but low water use and little discharge to the sewer will have the charges paused while TasWater works on a solution.
Customers who have already paid will get a refund backdated to July 1 once that solution is finalised.
TasWater’s customer and community general manager Callan Paske said the utility had listened to the complaints.
“We’ve heard the feedback from this specific customer group and we need to own and reflect on that while taking action to rectify the issue,” he said.
Since July 1, fixed water and sewerage charges have been linked to the size of a property’s water meter connection.
The old system, known as equivalent tenements, was based on estimated demand on the sewerage network.
Paske said the change followed a recommendation from an independent inquiry, was approved by the Tasmanian Economic Regulator and was used in many other jurisdictions around the country.
“While our charging methodology has resulted in lower charges for many customers, the transition has had unintended consequences for a number of customers whose large water connections do not reflect the comparatively low demand they place on the sewerage system,” he said
One northern engineering business, HB Engineering, saw its monthly bill jump from $625 to $3,800, mostly on its sewerage charge.
TasWater had earlier suggested affected customers reduce the size of their pipe connections, which one business owner said could cost as much as $100,000.
Paske said the irrigation arrangement for sporting clubs had been part of TasWater’s original pricing proposal.
He said the affected customers were a “relatively small” share of TasWater’s roughly 220,000 customers.
TasWater had spent the past few weeks working with the regulator, the state government, council owners and other stakeholders on a fix, he said.
“We are confident an appropriate outcome can be implemented within the coming month,” he said.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff welcomed the move, saying TasWater had agreed to the government’s call for a pause on price increases.
“We called for relief from excessive increases and TasWater has responded constructively,” Rockliff said.
“This is an important first step, in a final, long-term solution.”
Labor MP Dean Winter said that while the announcement was welcome, it was “too little too late”.
“This TasWater price determination has been a clown show from day one,” he said.
“The government could have intervened on two separate occasions where it could have used its veto power on the corporate plan in 2025 and in 2026.”
“It didn’t even know it had the power. In fact, it denied it did.”
Winter said it was “quite extraordinary” for the premier to “try and claim credit” for the pause.
“This has got to change. This has got to stop. It’s time for TasWater and its owners to start doing their jobs,” Winter said.
The Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TCCI) said the announcement was “a good first step” but there was “a long, long way to go”.
“These changes were obviously way out of whack with common sense and it shouldn’t have taken an uproar from the business community for TasWater to act,” TCCI acting chief executive Colleen Reardon said.
“Now TasWater and its local government owners need to come up with a long-term solution,” she said.
“We will not cop this being simply an exercise in kicking the can down the road for 12 months.”
The state government owns 10% of TasWater, with councils holding the other 90%.
Neither announcement said the 5.7% yearly increase approved by the regulator for households would change.
TasWater will contact affected customers directly. Customers struggling with their bills can call TasWater on 13 6992.
