New owner, new price?

With the success of the Liberal government in the recent Tasmanian election, the focus within the water industry will turn to the Liberal Party’s pre-election commitment to take over Taswater from the local councils.

The Tasmanian Liberal Party are obviously keen to take over the business, having previously put forward an offer to the local councils. This offer has subsequently been increased, with a commitment to realise $700 in average savings per customer over a six-year period.

While the proposed level of savings is admirable, it will be interesting to see how and where these savings will be achieved and whether these savings are on the current customer bill or relate to the avoidance of future price increases. This is an important consideration as there is a clear distinction for customers between a reduction on current bills and the avoidance of future increases through maintenance of current prices.

The eyes of the Tasmanian water industry will now be on the first 100 days of the new Tasmanian Liberal government’s term, as we await the details of the proposed takeover and savings.

This insight was written in response to the article ‘TasWater takeover plan ‘sweetened’, with concessions to councils’ by Rob Inglis which first appeared on theadvocate.com.au on 6 February 2018.