Australia's Urban Water Sector

Inquiry report

This inquiry report into Australia's Urban Water Sector was released on 12 October 2011.

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Preliminaries (PDF - 340 Kb)
- Cover, Copyright, Letter, Terms of reference, Contents and Abbreviations
Overview - including key points (PDF - 332 Kb)
Recommendations and findings (PDF - 218 Kb)
Chapter 1 Introduction (PDF - 200 Kb)
- 1.1 Background to this inquiry
- 1.2 What has the Commission been asked to do?
- 1.3 Scope of the inquiry
- 1.4 The Commission’s approach
- 1.5 Conduct of the inquiry
- 1.6 Guide to the report
Chapter 2 About Australia's urban water sector (PDF - 351 Kb)
- 2.1 Supply of water, wastewater and stormwater services
- 2.2 Water consumption
- 2.3 Recent supply augmentation and demand management initiatives
- 2.4 Performance of the urban water sector
- 2.5 Structural, institutional, governance and regulatory arrangements
Chapter 3 Objectives for the urban water sector (PDF - 226 Kb)
- 3.1 What objectives?
- 3.2 Economic efficiency as an overarching objective
Chapter 4 The role of governments (PDF - 213 Kb)
- 4.1 Market provision
- 4.2 Government involvement
- 4.3 Conclusions
Chapter 5 Supply of water, wastewater and stormwater services (PDF - 423 Kb)
- 5.1 Making better supply augmentation decisions
- 5.2 Improving system operations and asset management
- 5.3 Other opportunities in the supply of wastewater and stormwater services
- 5.4 Achieving integrated water cycle management
- 5.5 Scope for efficiency gains in regional urban areas
Chapter 6 Pricing of water, wastewater and stormwater (PDF - 360 Kb)
- 6.1 Pricing of bulk water
- 6.2 Pricing of wastewater and stormwater services
- 6.3 Pricing of water and wastewater transmission and distribution networks
- 6.4 Final retail pricing
- 6.5 Assessment of NWI pricing principles
Chapter 7 Non-price demand management (PDF - 274 Kb)
- 7.1 Water restrictions
- 7.2 Water use efficiency and conservation measures
Chapter 8 Achieving affordability and consumer protection objectives (PDF - 331 Kb)
- 8.1 Affordability of water and wastewater services
- 8.2 Consumer policy framework
Chapter 9 Framework for reform (PDF - 900 Kb)
- 9.1 Objectives for reform
- 9.2 Reform options
Chapter 10 Improving institutional arrangements (PDF - 178 Kb)
- 10.1 Assigning roles and responsibilities
- 10.2 Framework for improving governance of utilities and regulators
- 10.3 Improving governance arrangements for utilities and regulators
- 10.4 A charter between governments and utilities
Chapter 11 Rethinking price regulation (PDF - 325 Kb)
- 11.1 What is the rationale for prices oversight?
- 11.2 How significant are these problems likely to be?
- 11.3 Options for future prices oversight
- 11.4 Assessment of regulatory options
- 11.5 Future arrangements for prices oversight
- 11.6 Is there merit in a national economic regulator for the urban water sector?
- 11.7 Third party access regulation and licensing
Chapter 12 Structural options for large cities (PDF - 390 Kb)
- 12.1 Competition, efficiency gains and structural reform
- 12.2 Option 1: Vertically-integrated water and wastewater utility
- 12.3 Option 2: Vertical and horizontal separation of the bulk water supply function
- 12.4 Option 3: Vertical and horizontal separation of the wastewater treatment function
- 12.5 Option 4: Horizontal separation of retail-distribution
- 12.6 Conclusion
Chapter 13 Reform in regional areas (PDF - 409 Kb)
- 13.1 Regional water, wastewater and stormwater sector
- 13.2 Option 1: Horizontal aggregation
- 13.3 Option 2: Regional alliance
- 13.4 Option 3: Horizontal disaggregation
- 13.5 Other issues for regional areas
Chapter 14 Implementing reform and monitoring progress (PDF - 253 Kb)
- 14.1 The reform package
- 14.2 The role of governments in implementing reform
- 14.3 Facilitating reform and monitoring progress
Appendix A Public consultation (PDF - 196 Kb)
Appendix B Further information on Australia's urban water sector (PDF - 307 Kb)
Appendix C Lessons from other water sectors (PDF - 254 Kb)
Appendix D Lessons from reform in other utility sectors (PDF - 163 Kb)
Appendix E Supply augmentation case studies (PDF - 223 Kb)
Appendix F Portfolio managers, opportunity cost and tariffs (PDF - 147 Kb)
Appendix G Competition and structural reform (PDF - 240 Kb)
Technical Supplement 1: Partial equilibrium models of the urban water sectors in Melbourne and Perth (PDF - 734 Kb)
Technical Supplement 2: Insights into residential water consumption and expenditure using combined census and utility billing data (PDF - 303 Kb)
References (PDF - 293 Kb)

Just briefly...

Key points

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