IPART is reviewing 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 is also reviewing the maximum prices that Essential Water can charge customers for water and wastewater services. The prices we set for that review will 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 recognise that access to safe, reliable and affordable water at a fair price is critical to our communities, environment and economy
Our price review focuses on protecting customers’ ability to pay and promoting value for money, while aiming to help water businesses remain financially viable to efficiently deliver their services. Our aim is to hold WaterNSW accountable in a way that delivers good short-, medium-, and long-term customer outcomes.
What we consider in our decisions
Under the IPART Act, when reviewing water prices, we are required to consider a range of matters, 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.
We have published our Draft Report
Under our draft decisions, the annual bill for WaterNSW's Pipeline services to Essential Water would increase by about 20% plus inflation. However, this bill is expected to continue to be covered by the NSW Government. This means the price increase would not be passed on to Essential Water customers for the coming pricing period.
Offtake customers would see annual bills increase by between 3% and 11% plus inflation depending on water usage.
The increases in draft maximum prices reflect the increased efficient costs of WaterNSW delivering Pipeline services over the next 5 years.
In reaching our draft decisions, we considered independent expert advice from HoustonKemp and all feedback received from stakeholders at our Public Hearing, through submissions to our Issues Paper and from responses to our Issues Paper survey. The report by HoustonKemp is available on our website.
We are seeking feedback on our draft decisions
We are seeking stakeholder views on our draft decisions. We invite all stakeholders to make a submission to our Draft Report by 28 April 2026.
We will consider all feedback received before preparing and releasing our Final Report on prices for WaterNSW’s water transportation services in May 2026.
The following links provide more information on how we review and determine water prices and about the water businesses that we regulate.
This review will affect 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 rural users 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.