What influences pricing?
Every five years we develop a Water Plan that details the service standards to be achieved during the timeframe.
All pricing in our Water Plan is regulated by the Essential Services Commission (ESC).
The plan includes assumptions about:
- the cost of maintaining service standards
- capital works needed to maintain and improve service standards
- inflows to our storages, water availability, and likely water restriction levels
Customer pricing is based on these assumptions and in turn determines what our revenue is likely to be. These factors determine how much revenue is likely to be needed.
Why review prices?
When our existing Water Plan was written, our region had experienced five years of low rainfall.
The plan included assumptions that the drought would ease and our storages would start to recover.
This has not happened. Our climate has remained dry. We have not been able to ease restrictions to the levels predicted.
Not being able to ease restrictions has meant revenue is down. Purchasing water to secure supply has meant expenditure is up. These two factors have resulted in significant financial losses.
We have also had to make substantial investments in infrastructure to offset the major risks of drought. This has increased debt and associated interest charges.
To ensure that we are financially viable into the future, we need to review our assumptions and pricing.
Our process of reviewing prices
These are the steps:
- Gain a better understanding of our customers, their attitudes to water and willingness to pay to ease water restrictions
- Review our assumptions about drought and water availability into the future
- Review our operations to ensure we are operating our systems efficiently and to look where savings can be made
- Developing pricing options
- Seeking feedback on the options from our community
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Useful Links:
Contribute to our Blog (Discussion Forum)
Get prices from our Proposed Pricing Estimator
Download an information brochure
Proposed pricing information brochure (PDF)
Interested in more information?
Pricing areas in our region
Snapshot of what's proposed to change?
Proposed changes to stepped pricing structure
What does this mean for your Water Bill?
Frequently Asked Questions
Community Information Sessions
A series of community information sessions will be held across the region during March to explain the pricing proposal to customers. Sessions will be held:
- Bendigo 2pm and 6.30pm, 1 March at Coliban Water, 37-45 Bridge Street, Bendigo.
- Boort 2pm, 11 March at the Rural Transaction Centre, Godfrey Street, Boort.
- Castlemaine 7pm, 3 March at Ray Bradfield Room behind Maxi IGA Supermarket, Castlemaine.
- Echuca 6.30pm, 10 March at Quality Inn Port of Echuca, 465 High Street, Echuca.
- Kyneton 2pm, 2 March at Richardson Room Town Hall Mollison Street, Kyneton.
- Rochester 6.30pm, 11 March at Four R’s Function Room, Echuca Highway, Rochester.
How you can provide feedback
Use one of the options below to let us know your comments in writing. We will record and respond to all comments received.
Please send us your comments by 31 March so we make can sure they’re considered.
E-mail us >click here
Contribute to our Blog > click here
Send us a letter by post
Coliban Water - Proposed Pricing Feedback
PO Box 2770
Bendigo DC
Victoria 3554 |
