IPART is reviewing the maximum prices for connecting, extending, or upgrading metropolitan water, wastewater, and recycled water services.
These developer charges apply to Sydney Water Corporation, Hunter Water Corporation, and Central Coast Council and are applied through their Development Servicing Plans (DSPs), which are registered by IPART.
We last reviewed water and wastewater developer charges for these businesses in 2018, and recycled water developer charges in 2019.
What our review will consider
Our Issues Paper sets out the key issues for this review and seeks feedback on:
- the principles underpinning our approach
- whether the current form of regulation remains appropriate
- whether we should consider alternative price calculation methods
- whether approaches to price inputs can be simplified
- how price inputs should be updated over time
- how we define equivalent tenements and its representation of demand
- how DSP boundaries are set
- whether the current DSP registration process is suitable
- how a new framework might affect land and dwelling prices
We will consider developer charges for recycled water alongside those for water and wastewater. Recycled water is becoming a core part of how water businesses service future growth - particularly high-demand users like data centres.
We are seeking your input
We are seeking feedback by way of written submissions to this Issues Paper by Monday 6 July 2026.
We will consider all written submissions and feedback we receive before publishing a Position Paper for further consultation in December 2026. We propose to publish a Draft Report with our draft decisions in April 2027 and a Final Report in August 2027. We will hold a Public Hearing and may hold other targeted stakeholder workshops to explore issues and gather feedback on options.
Alongside this document, we also released a media release.