Central Coast Council continues to undertake maintenance and infrastructure upgrades across its vast water and sewer network as it moves into year three of Council’s four-year Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) Determination.

Council’s commitment to maintaining and upgrading infrastructure across the network is critical to the ongoing efforts in ensuring the Central Coast community has access to reliable and high-quality water services.

From 1 July 2024 the combined yearly bill for a typical household will increase by approximately 11.9%, or $168.03 for water, sewerage, and stormwater services (based on 170 kilolitres of water usage per year). This continues the gradual price increase under the current IPART pricing determination, as informed by community feedback.

Central Coast Council Director Water and Sewer, Jamie Loader said the increase will allow Council to provide services that meet the community needs and expectations, now and in the future.

“The price increase in July is consistent with IPART’s determination to ensure Council can deliver these essential services. 

“This year Council commenced work to deliver an $82.5 million upgrade to Mardi Water Treatment Plant ensuring the security of the Central Coast’s water supply. The NSW Government provided $6.85 million through the Safe and Secure Water Program with over $75 million funded from Central Coast Council.

“Since July 2023, Council has upgraded over 21.3km’s of new sewer lines and renewed 3.3km’s of watermains across the region. In addition, Council responded to 347 water main breaks and 796 sewer chokes across our network.

“The performance of our water and sewer operations is heavily reliant on the condition of a very large asset base. The current water and sewer pricing determination provides sufficient revenue to address the large maintenance requirements, however it will take a number of years before the improvements to our assets translates to an improvement in our overall service performance,” Mr Loader said.

Council Administrator, Rik Hart said the IPART determination ensures that Council can continue to work to steadily improve services to meet the needs of the growing community on the Central Coast.

“These enhancements are essential not only for the current population but also for future generations, ensuring that the community has access to reliable and high-quality water services,” Mr Hart said.

To ensure that NSW residents get safe and reliable services at a fair price, Council is required to undergo a rigorous review process by IPART. In May 2022, IPART determined that residents would prefer that any necessary price increases be applied gradually.

The 2022 IPART determination, which included a series of gradual increases, followed a 2019 determination which resulted in price reductions of over 20%. After adjusting for inflation, residents will now be paying very similar prices to what they paid in 2018 for these services. Residents of the former Gosford area will be paying slightly less, and those from the former Wyong area slightly more. 

Central Coast Council is a water supply authority and is the sole service provider of water in the local government area. As such, the Council’s revenue requirements to maintain and build new assets for the community is regulated by IPART, an independent agency of the NSW Government.

The community can review the pricing for water and sewerage for the Central Coast by visiting the IPART website: ipart.nsw.gov.au

For eligibility and to apply for hardship assistance for payment of rates search ‘rates and hardship assistance’ at www.centralcoast.nsw.gov.au

ENDS