IPART has completed its review of the maximum prices that WaterNSW can charge customers for water transportation services provided by the Murray River to Broken Hill Pipeline (the Pipeline). The prices we set in this review apply from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2031.
IPART has also completed its review of the maximum prices that Essential Water can charge customers for water and wastewater services in the Broken Hill region. The prices we set for that review also apply from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2031.
Prices that WaterNSW charges Essential Water for transporting water from the Murray River are a key factor when reviewing the prices that Essential Water customers in the Broken Hill region pay for water and wastewater services.
We have published our Final Report
We have released our Final Report on WaterNSW’s maximum prices for its water transportation services.
Under our decisions, the annual bill for WaterNSW's Pipeline services to Essential Water is expected to increase by around 29.8% in 2026-27 including inflation and then by around inflation for the remainder of the period. While Pipeline charges to Essential Water will increase, we have set Essential Water’s prices to its customers on the assumption that Pipeline charges are funded by the NSW Government. This means no Pipeline costs will be passed on to the households and businesses in the Broken Hill region for the coming pricing period.
Offtake customers would see annual bills increase by between 10.5% and 19.7% including inflation in 2026-27 depending on water usage.
The increases in maximum prices reflect the increased efficient costs of WaterNSW delivering Pipeline services over the next 5 years.
In reaching our decisions, we considered all feedback received from stakeholders at our Public Hearing, through submissions to our Issues Paper and Draft Report, and responses to our customer surveys. In addition to this process, we considered a range of matters under the IPART Act including:
- the cost of providing the service
- consumer protection against abuse of monopoly power by a water utility
- the need to promote competition in the supply of the service
- the need for greater efficiency in the supply of the service to reduce costs to consumers and taxpayers
- appropriate rates of return on public sector assets
- the social impact of our determinations
- the need to maintain ecologically sustainable development and protect the environment.
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 WaterNSW’s prices. We have considered all feedback in making our final decisions and recommendations.
This review affects Essential Water and its customers within the communities of Broken Hill, Menindee, Sunset Strip and Silverton as they receive water transportation services from WaterNSW as part of the Murray River to Broken Hill Pipeline. Essential Water provides potable water services to approximately 18,000 residents and non-potable water services to 48 customers in Silverton and Sunset Strip. Essential Water also provides wastewater services to Broken Hill. The WaterNSW Pipeline also provides water transportation services to a number of offtakes along the route of the Pipeline under separate agreements.