Draft Report - Prices for Central Coast Council’s water and wastewater services from 1 July 2026

We have published our Draft Report that set out our draft decisions and recommendations on the draft maximum prices that Central Coast Council (CCC Water) can charge customers to provide water, wastewater, and related services. The prices we set in this review will apply from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2031.

Under our draft maximum prices, bills for typical household customers (using 170 kL per year) receiving water and wastewater services would increase in 2026-27 by 8.7% plus inflation, or 11.9% including our estimate of inflation, and then with inflation only for the following 4 years. CCC Water proposed that the typical household bill increase in 2026-27 by 7.8% plus inflation, or 11.0% including estimated inflation, and then with inflation only for the following 4 years.

Under our proposed prices, the typical household using 170 kL per year would see their water and wastewater bills increase by:

• $129 (or 8.7%) to $1,612 in 2026-27 before inflation, then by inflation only in each subsequent year to 2030-31
• $176 (or 11.9%) to $1,659 in 2026-27 including estimated inflation, then by inflation only in each subsequent year to 2030-31.

The typical customer bill in 2025-26 is $1,483.

The increases in our proposed draft prices reflect our assessment of the efficient costs for CCC Water to deliver its water and wastewater services over the next 5 years. 

In reaching our draft decisions, we considered: 

• the factors under the IPART Act we are required to take into account
• expert advice from Arup/HoustonKemp on Central Coast Council’s efficient capital and operating expenditure in delivering water and wastewater services
• all feedback we received from stakeholders at our Public Hearing, through submissions to our Issues Paper and from survey results.

Our draft decisions aim to balance customer affordability with the need to protect services by providing CCC Water with adequate funding to meet its regulatory obligations and deliver customer outcomes in relation to water and wastewater services. 

We are seeking feedback on our draft decisions

You can have your say by making a submission or completing our customer survey before 1 May 2026. We will consider all feedback received before making our final decisions on the maximum prices CCC Water can charge for water and wastewater services for the 2026 determination period to apply from 1 July 2026.