Bendigo residents look set to see higher water bills from July 1, as Coliban Water prepares to embark on a big, ambitious capital works program that will cater for population and development growth and address ageing infrastructure and unreliable catchment inflows.
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A five-year plan that would raise bills by 1.9 per cent a year for the next two years and 2.5 per cent for the following three is likely to be endorsed by the Essential Services Commission (ESC), which oversees water pricing in Victoria.
The proposed water price rises, among the highest in the state, would see the average household bill increase from $1,367 in 2022-23 to around $1,393 in 2023-24, and $1,529 by 2027-28, before inflation, according to the commission.
At a public meeting held as part of a pricing review on Monday, Coliban CEO Damian Wells outlined the case for the rises - which included a consideration of "intergenerational equity".
Coliban had "barely kept the lights on" in terms of capital investment over recent years, with bills kept low for "as long as possible", Mr Wells said.
With "pipes under Bendigo" dating back to 1893, a "correction" was required to provide the assets needed to ensure public health and environmental protection.
The aged state of its infrastructure had seen the water corporation fined $150,000 and put on a two-year good behaviour bond over the 2019 discharge of treated wastewater into a tributary of the Campaspe River at Kyneton.
That incident was "very reputationally damaging", the CEO said, and out of character for Coliban, which wanted to "play a regenerative role" in the condition of catchments and "stand for ... really great environmental outcomes".
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But the water authority was committed to "absolutely minimis[ing]" the impact of its ambitious agenda on customer bills, and the vast majority of the capital program would be funded through debt.
Over the coming five years, it planned to invest "about a billion dollars" in water services and infrastructure, with $800 million from customer bills funding part of the capital program, as well as operations, and Coliban borrowing another $350 million, raising its debt to $800 million by 2028.
For the average customer, the increase would work out to be around $2.50 a week including interest, Mr Wells said.
"We think that's modest, we think that strikes the right balance between the current generations and future generations."
Coliban had also doubled its assistance for customers experiencing hardship, with a $570 million-a-year program providing a range of discounts and other support.
Among $500 million worth of capital works planned over five years are a $78.7 million upgrade of the Bendigo water reclamation plant, $50 million worth of expansion and upgrade works on Bendigo sewerage systems, $25 million for the upgrade of Castlemaine's water reclamation plant and $13 million to improve the Goornong treated water supply.
While a community engagement process on the pricing proposal was hailed as exemplary, there was criticism at the meeting from developers, who claimed they hadn't been included in discussions and lacked detail on the costs they would face.
Consultation on the pricing proposal closes on Friday, May 12, with the Essential Services Commission due to make a final decision about it in June.
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