IPART has completed its review of the maximum prices that Sydney Water can charge customers for water and related services in the Greater Sydney region. The prices we set in this review apply from 1 October 2025 to 30 June 2030.
We have published our Final Report
Under IPART’s decisions, the typical average household bill for water and wastewater services will increase by $168 or 13.8% including inflation in 2025-26 and then $77 or 5.1% plus inflation each year on average until 2030.
This will see typical average household bills increasing from $1,220 in 2024-25 to:
- $1,388 in 2025-26
- $1,695 in 2029-30.
The new maximum prices we have set will mean that while the typical household bill rises, it is $84 lower in 2025-26 than proposed by Sydney Water. By 2029-30, the typical bill will be $218 lower than proposed by Sydney Water.
The increase in maximum prices reflects our view that the revenue Sydney Water needs to deliver services and infrastructure to keep pace with Sydney’s growth, meet community expectations on social and environmental performance, and deliver value to customers has increased.
In reaching our decisions, we considered all feedback received from stakeholders at our Public Hearing and through submissions to our Issues Paper and Draft Report. In addition to this process and our legislative responsibilities, the NSW Government required this review to consider the following factors when setting prices:
- the cost-of-living impacts of Sydney Water’s prices
- the effectiveness of existing rebates to manage the social impacts of Sydney Water prices
- opportunities to adjust project timelines to minimise price impacts and, if necessary, to reduce the proposed capital programs in line with least cost planning principles
- deliverability of the proposed capital plans based on capability and market conditions.
Cost-of-living and the affordability of Sydney Water’s bills was a dominant theme of comments from stakeholders, and individual customers. We made recommendations to the NSW Government to improve the effectiveness of financial rebates to help moderate bill impacts on more adversely affected households, such as those that hold either a Health Care Card or Low Income Health Care Card.
You can use our bill calculator to find out what our decisions could mean for your bills.
The following links provide more information on how we review and determine water prices and about the water businesses that we regulate.
We thank all stakeholders for their input
We thank all stakeholders for their time and effort throughout this review to provide us with their views on Sydney Water’s prices. We have considered all feedback in making our final decisions and recommendations.