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Councils across Tasmania apply varied charging. Hobart City Council provide an overview of all councils charging arrangements in their June 2001, Water Reform Package.

Under the new regulatory arrangements detailed in the Water and Sewerage Industry Act 2008 (Industry Act), the State's Water Sewerage Economic Regulator will be responsible for determining appropriate pricing for water and sewerage services.

In arriving at a price determination, the Regulator will have regard to the pricing principles set out in the Industry Act. These principles enable the new corporations, effective from July 2009, to recover efficient costs for providing services and complying with regulatory obligations. This requires both pricing based on a fixed and variable cost component (two-part pricing), as well as location-based pricing to reflect the cost of servicing customers in different areas.

The pricing principles set out in the Industry Act also allow for maximum and minimum prices to be set, and will provide for the development of incentives to encourage more efficient operational processes by the new water and sewerage corporations.

Legislation is currently being developed to ensure assistance is available to customers in need, and it is anticipated that this legislation will be introduced to Parliament in late 2008.

This assistance will resemble the electricity concessions framework, where low income groups receive a subsidy towards their electricity usage. As with electricity, it is appropriate that the infrastructure owners, who receive returns from the investment in water and sewerage assets, fund the subsidy. As such, the local government owners of the new regional corporations will be required to provide the concessions framework for the water and sewerage sector.

It is also expected that the Economic Regulator will require the new corporations to provide a payment policy for those in hardship, again consistent with arrangements that apply to the electricity market.

Water can be taken from a river or stream or stored in a farm dam for commercial purposes; however a licence must be obtained from the Department of Primary Industries and Water.

Once a person has established a water allocation under the Water Management Act 1999, an allocation may be attached to the licence. A water allocation can be obtained by either establishing a right to take water from the stream at the licence locaton, or by transferring water from another licence.

A water licence is currently issued for a period of 10 years, however licence duration is to be extended to 40 years when they are next reviewed in 2009. Licences contain provisions for a review of conditions after five years. Licence fees are charged in accordance with the Water Management Regulations 1999.

Top ten industrial water licence allocations in Tasmania

 Department of Primary Industries and Water, July 2008