Water pricing
Best practice water pricing is a key element of the National Water Initiative (NWI), which aims to achieve consistency in pricing policies and in approaches to pricing and attributing costs of water planning and management.
Under the NWI, pricing and institutional reforms are intended to promote economically efficient and sustainable use of:
- water resources
- water infrastructure assets
- government resources devoted to the management of water.
These reforms aim to ensure enough revenue to allow efficient delivery of the required services, and to promote efficient water markets in both rural and urban settings.
Water prices convey important signals to customers. Getting water charging and institutional arrangements right is critical to ensuring that water is used wisely and that new sources of water supply are brought on in a timely fashion.
Water pricing and water reform
Best practice water pricing is a key element of the National Water Initiative (NWI).
- Find out more about water pricing and water reform
Pricing policies
A major objective of the NWI is to achieve consistent approaches to charging across sectors and jurisdictions.
The Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council endorsed the NWI pricing principles on 23 April 2010.
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Water utility performance reporting
Annual reports on the performance of rural and urban water delivery agencies are a key commitment under the NWI.
- Find out more about water utility performance reporting
Price regulation
Under the NWI, independent bodies are required to set or review prices, or price setting processes, to ensure pricing policies are consistent with NWI principles.
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