Water Pricing
Water Pricing
Water planning and management prices are set by IPART, including the share of water costs to be paid for by users and the share to be paid by government.
IPART undertakes pricing determinations every 4 years, with annual reviews. The process to determine rural water prices for 2025-2030 is currently underway.
WaterNSW and NSW agencies have proposed to IPART that irrigators’ water bills rise by 14-35% each year, for the next five years (excluding CPI). This increase is well above the annual 3.7 per cent CPI rate. NSWIC is actively opposing these exorbitant proposed rural water price rises.
Australian farmers are already struggling to compete against the rising tide of imported fruit and vegetables, dairy, meat and cereals, with cheap food imports surging by $7 billion in two years to almost $40 billion in 2023-24.
If the NSW Government wants NSW households to eat local and support our farmers, then it must intervene or risk exorbitant water bills proving the final straw. Many farmers are already under intense financial pressure with rising input costs in interest rates, fuel, insurance, machinery, wages and energy, and price impacts from environmental water recovery.
IPART will publish a Draft Report for stakeholder feedback in March 2025. The Final Report will be published in June 2025, with the pricing determination to take effect from 1 July 2025. Learn more on the IPART website: Prices for WaterNSW regional and rural bulk water from 1 July 2025.
We encourage all water users to contact their local Member of Parliament to voice their concerns about how water pricing increases will worsen cost-of-living pressures and drive farmers out of business.
Irrigators cover most of the cost for managing NSW’s rural water resources, including water planning, infrastructure and operations. This includes activities that serve the broader community, or public interest.
For example, inland irrigators use only about 25% of total flows, but pay for:
- 100% of systems operation and water availability management;
- 80% of environmental water management;
- 80% of the development of water planning and regulatory frameworks;
- 95% of water delivery and other operations;
- 80% of water quality monitoring;
- 80% of flood operations;
- 80% of environmental planning and protection;
- 100% metering and compliance.
