Overview

We've released our draft decision on Melbourne Water's prices

We released our draft decision on Melbourne Water's prices for the period 1 July 2021 to 1 July 2024 on the 25 March 2021. This review informs the maximum charges customers pay for these services. We are seeking feedback from Melbourne Water, customers and stakeholders.

We invite you to comment on our views in this draft decision before we make a final decision and issue a price determination in June 2021. Details on how to make a submission on our draft decision are provided on this page.

This review is relevant to water customers living in and around the Melbourne metropolitan area

Melbourne Water provides wholesale water supply and sewage management services to retail water corporations that we also regulate. These retail water corporations are City West Water, South East Water, Yarra Valley Water, Western Water, Barwon Water, South Gippsland Water and Westernport Water.

Melbourne Water also provides drainage and waterways services in and around Melbourne.

Feedback that has informed our draft decision

We sought feedback on Melbourne Water’s 2021-26 price submission from December 2020 to 5 February 2021 via Engage Victoria. We received seven submissions from the general public, and four from organisations: Hume City Council, Yarra Riverkeeper Association, Friends of Steele Creek and Werribee River Association. You can access all submissions on our website.

Key facts from our draft decision

As a result of our draft decision, prices would fall, adding to price reductions proposed by Melbourne Water. This is due to our proposed cuts to Melbourne Water’s revenue and translates to average bill reductions of up to $7 per year for a typical residential household.

Melburnians would continue to receive high quality drinking water, safe treatment and disposal of sewage, and new investment in waterways and drainage. Melbourne Water would continue to reduce its environmental footprint and respond to climate change.

Melbourne Water proposes a five-year regulatory period starting 1 July 2021. Our draft decision proposes a three-year regulatory period. This shorter period would allow Melbourne Water to put forward a new proposal as a clearer understanding of the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic emerges in the coming years.

Read our draft decision

This draft decision sets out our views on Melbourne Water’s price submission. This paper should be read together with Melbourne Water’s price submission.
Melbourne Water draft decision: 2021 water price review (Word, 4.89MB)
MS Word (4.77 MB)
Melbourne Water draft decision: 2021 water price review customer fact sheet (Word, 125KB)
MS Word (124.54 KB)

Read Melbourne Water's price proposal

Melbourne Water's proposal contains three documents: a presentation, a community summary and the price submission.
Melbourne Water 2021 price submission - including supplement (word version)
MS Word (6.53 MB)

Additional information

On 19 April 2021, we published:

  1. A report (PDF, 633.24KB) by our consultant Prof. John Rose on Melbourne Water’s willingness to pay study. The report was used to inform our draft decision on Melbourne Water’s engagement of the issues outlined in the report and approach to establishing willingness to pay for additional waterways and drainage services.
  2. A letter (PDF, 71.66) to Melbourne Water responding to a request for clarification on footnote 15 of our draft decision.

Have your say

We held a virtual public forum on 22 April 2021. The forum provided an opportunity for interested parties to discuss key features of our draft decision. You can view the recording of the forum on our website.

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Collection notice

As part of making a submission, we need you to provide personal information, such as your name, email address, town of residence and postcode. We will use this information to send you updates about this review.

It is our policy to publish all submissions to reviews on the Essential Services Commission website. This process may involve publishing your personal information (your name, not your address). You can request anonymity by selecting the relevant tickbox.

We may also collect personal information when you email us with a query. Aside from any exceptions in relevant privacy legislation, we will not use or disclose the information you provide for any purpose other than to progress and respond to your query.

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Requesting anonymity

You can request anonymity by selecting the relevant tickbox on this page. Depending on the circumstances, requesting anonymity may affect the weight we can give to your submission. Information that influences our decisions generally needs to be disclosed so stakeholders can understand the reasons for our findings.

Read more information about our submissions policy.

About us

The Essential Services Commission is an independent regulator that promotes the long term interests of Victorian consumers with respect to the price, quality and reliability of essential services. We regulate Victoria’s energy, water and transport sectors, and administer the local government Fair Go Rates system.