In recent days there has been public concern about the prices applied to water use prior to 1 July 2008. This information is to assist our customers and provide information about the prices and your bills.

Have you already received an SA Water account?

Please pay your account as normal.

If you have been charged the higher 2008-09 price for water you used prior to July 1, we will issue you with a cheque. This is an ex gratia payment to customers to cover water use charged at the higher water prices from the time of the gazettal of the prices in December 2007 to 30 June 2008.

We greatly appreciate your patience and hope to have all cheques sent by the end of September.

Some of you have received a bill without the water use component and no ex gratia payment is due.

How the ex gratia payments will work for customers who have already paid their water use accounts:  Example: Customer A’s water consumption year is 28 December 2007 to 28 December 2008. This customer would receive a water use bill in July 2008 (for 1st half – 28 December to 28 June) and January 2009 (for 2nd half – 28 June to 28 December). Customer was issued a bill on 9 July that included water use charges at the 2008-09 price. The total water use charge on the bill was $99 (for the 1st half). SA Water determines the proportion of the water use prior to 1 July based on the proportion of the meter reading period before 1 July. In this case, all of the meter reading period is before 1 July so covers all water use – 130kl. SA Water then determines the water use charge on the basis that water used before 1 July is priced at 2007-08 prices – in this case, $68.30. The difference between the amount paid by the customer and the amount that would have been paid under the 2007-08 rate will be refunded to the customer – in this case $30.70. Note that if this customer’s consumption year had commenced on 1 April, the 1st half would be from 1 April to 1 October.  In this case only half of the meter reading period would be before 1 July. This would result in a lower ex-gratia payment of $15.35.

Are you yet to receive your account?

We will delay billing of water use charges for other customers until we have made adjustments to our billing program.

The ex gratia payment will still be applicable to water used before 1 July that has been billed at the 2008-09 prices. However, this will appear as a credit on your bill and be deducted from the total amount.

Information for conveyancers

SA Water will provide more information for conveyancers in the near future.

New charges for 2008-09 water year

The South Australian Government has announced important new projects worth $3 billion to secure the State’s water supply for the future.

To help pay for new infrastructure we have a new pricing structure for water use. We have moved from a two-tiered to a three-tiered system to ensure high water use is appropriately priced.

Old water use prices		New water use prices
Tier 1 (0-125kL)	$0.50	Tier 1 (0-120kL)	$0.71
Tier 2 (>125kL)	$1.16	Tier 2 (120- 520kL)	$1.38
No Tier 3	-	Tier 3 (>520kL)	$1.65

The Billing Cycle

Water pricing is broken into two parts – a fixed supply charge (billed quarterly) and a consumption charge based on water use (billed six monthly, as per table above).

Water prices are announced by the Government in December each year. This is because customers’ water use is governed by what is known as the ‘consumption year’ not by the financial year and, for some customers, consumption charged at the new price will begin from the middle of December.

Given the time it has taken to read our more than 556,000 household meters, in the past we have read these meters over a six-month period. So a customer’s ‘consumption year’ could begin anytime between December and June depending on SA Water’s meter reading program.

The Government has announced a reform of the billing system, including a move to provide customers with their water use charges quarterly – rather than six monthly – so that people can monitor their use more carefully.

SA Water has recently commenced quarterly meter reading and this will support such changes.

How can I get more information?

If you would like any further information please contact our Customer Service Centre on 1300 650 950.