Latest news with #IPART
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
How you are being forced to pay for Australia's mega population surge four times a year
Those living in Australia's most populous city can expect a steep increase in their water bills as utilities struggle to keep up with immigration-fuelled population growth. Sydney Water had planned to increase its customers' bills by 18 per cent from October 1, under its 2025 to 2030 plan. While the application for the hefty rate rise was blocked by the state's Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART), residents will still be slapped with a six per cent increase - more than double the 2.4 per cent inflation rate. The utility pointed to huge population growth as justification for the increase, which equates to about $73 for a typical bill. A Sydney Water board meeting last year warned of the strain on infrastructure in the city's outer suburbs, which house a higher proportion of new migrants. 'The biggest drivers behind Sydney Water's planned investments are growth and renewing existing infrastructure,' the meeting minutes said. 'Most of this investment will support growth in both new and established areas – especially in western Sydney, where development is booming and where population growth is pushing existing water and wastewater systems to their limits.' To cope with the population surge, Sydney Water expected the average bill to rise by $226 during the next financial year, and by $111 every year until 2029-30. 'We know this may cause payment difficulties for some of our customers. We have programs in place to assist them,' the provider said. 'We'll deliver services to 300,000 new homes to support the NSW government's growth ambitions, and our growing population and cities.' Relief is unlikely in the coming five years, with IPART proposing a 4.6 per cent annual increase in Sydney Water bills each year, subject to community feedback. This would see homeowners and renters pay an average of $1,293 a year in 2025-26 rising to $1,527 in 2029-30, before inflation is even factored in. Like Sydney Water, IPART chair Carmel Donnelly acknowledged increases in water bills were necessary to fund infrastructure upgrades amid strong population growth. 'We have set draft prices that are lower than Sydney Water's proposed prices,' she said. 'However, some increase is necessary to allow Sydney Water's services and infrastructure to keep pace with Sydney's growth and deliver safe, reliable services that meet community expectations.' Overseas migrants are accounting for more than 80 per cent of the population growth in Sydney and Melbourne - putting pressure on transport and water infrastructure. Immigration levels were still high in the year to March with 437,440 people moving to Australia on a net permanent and long-term basis, with this net figure factoring in departures including skilled migrants and international students. In Sydney, Australia's most populated big city, 120,886 overseas migrants moved in during the last financial year - making up 81 per cent of the net population increase factoring in births and those who moved interstate. In Melbourne, 121,240 migrants moved in during the same period, making up 80.7 per cent of the population growth. Both cities are overcrowded with 41,086 Sydney residents leaving for another part of Australia over the year to escape the congestion and unaffordable housing. Despite that exodus, Sydney's population is still increasing by two per cent a year in a city that is already home to 5.5million people. Building activity is also failing to keep pace with Anthony Albanese's plan to build 1.2million homes over five years, or an average of 240,000 a year. But in the year to April, just 182,034 new homes were approved, new Australian Bureau of Statistics data released on Friday revealed. Morgan Begg, the director of research at the Institute of Public Affairs think tank, said new housing supply was likely to fall further behind population growth. 'With housing approvals so low, Australia is being set up for a disaster, as in the last three years to June 2025, net migration is on track to be 1.3million, meaning the gap between demand and supply is drifting further apart,' he said.
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
North Sydney Council couldn't get its rate rise. You might pay for that this summer
Baker told the meeting there was 'no cause for celebration over IPART's decision' and the council would need to slash or defer $12.5 million worth of infrastructure renewals in the next financial year, sell off council buildings or land and reduce or cut service levels for thousands of ratepayers. The council is considering cuts to services including community transport, verge mowing, street sweeping, graffiti removal and maintenance of parks and gardens, and customer service levels. It will also explore revenue-raising measures such as increased 'compliance activity' for parking offences, ticketed entry to New Year's Eve events, increased advertising on council property and places – such as selling sponsorship or naming rights to North Sydney Oval – and new or increased fees and charges for using parks and open spaces for events, and for road closures. Baker said the request to increase rates was an attempt to improve the council's financial position 'without cutting council services, or flogging off council buildings and land as short-term sugar hit to address the liquidity crisis we must face over the next 12 months because of the pool'. 'The devastating impacts of the pool project have generated $61 million in external borrowings but also drained council's reserves of nearly another $49 million.' Councillor MaryAnn Beregi said the debts of nearly $100 million debt 'have to be paid back, and by allocating internal reserves, we are kicking the can down the road on infrastructure renewals'. 'It was not this council, but a previous council, that committed this community to the disastrous and ill-conceived pool project, which continues to plague us and plague us and plague us.' Councillor James Spenceley said the elected officials had 'absolutely failed the community'. 'What a mess. We shot for the stars – 87 per cent. And here we are, making service cuts, talking about asset sales, using debt, all the things we should have done to reduce the impact of that proposed rate rise. This is ad hoc decision-making at its worst.' Loading Liberal councillor Jessica Keen said the rates decision showed 'the residents of North Sydney were heard', but 'there's got to be other options for our residents so they don't have to face service cuts.' Councillor Nicole Antonini took aim at Liberal councillors and MPs who stridently opposed the rate rise, and said councillors had to fix the mess left by previous councils. 'It's not just the mess of cleaning up a vanity project of an over-the-top pool that has put our council in debt, but years of ignoring our community assets, allowing them to fall into disrepair.' 'Our only library that floods regularly, a sports centre that's had its roof blow off, an archaic computer system. We now even have engineers checking on our bus shelters, assessing their safety and whether they need to be closed and removed, with no funds to rebuild.' The pool closed in February 2021 and work started in March. It was originally forecast to reopen in November 2022. The cost of the project has nearly doubled from an initial estimate of $58 million. Developer Icon says construction on the complex will be completed in October; the council has estimated it likely won't be finished until November and might not open until early next year.
The Age
2 days ago
- Business
- The Age
North Sydney Council couldn't get its rate rise. You might pay for that this summer
Baker told the meeting there was 'no cause for celebration over IPART's decision' and the council would need to slash or defer $12.5 million worth of infrastructure renewals in the next financial year, sell off council buildings or land and reduce or cut service levels for thousands of ratepayers. The council is considering cuts to services including community transport, verge mowing, street sweeping, graffiti removal and maintenance of parks and gardens, and customer service levels. It will also explore revenue-raising measures such as increased 'compliance activity' for parking offences, ticketed entry to New Year's Eve events, increased advertising on council property and places – such as selling sponsorship or naming rights to North Sydney Oval – and new or increased fees and charges for using parks and open spaces for events, and for road closures. Baker said the request to increase rates was an attempt to improve the council's financial position 'without cutting council services, or flogging off council buildings and land as short-term sugar hit to address the liquidity crisis we must face over the next 12 months because of the pool'. 'The devastating impacts of the pool project have generated $61 million in external borrowings but also drained council's reserves of nearly another $49 million.' Councillor MaryAnn Beregi said the debts of nearly $100 million debt 'have to be paid back, and by allocating internal reserves, we are kicking the can down the road on infrastructure renewals'. 'It was not this council, but a previous council, that committed this community to the disastrous and ill-conceived pool project, which continues to plague us and plague us and plague us.' Councillor James Spenceley said the elected officials had 'absolutely failed the community'. 'What a mess. We shot for the stars – 87 per cent. And here we are, making service cuts, talking about asset sales, using debt, all the things we should have done to reduce the impact of that proposed rate rise. This is ad hoc decision-making at its worst.' Loading Liberal councillor Jessica Keen said the rates decision showed 'the residents of North Sydney were heard', but 'there's got to be other options for our residents so they don't have to face service cuts.' Councillor Nicole Antonini took aim at Liberal councillors and MPs who stridently opposed the rate rise, and said councillors had to fix the mess left by previous councils. 'It's not just the mess of cleaning up a vanity project of an over-the-top pool that has put our council in debt, but years of ignoring our community assets, allowing them to fall into disrepair.' 'Our only library that floods regularly, a sports centre that's had its roof blow off, an archaic computer system. We now even have engineers checking on our bus shelters, assessing their safety and whether they need to be closed and removed, with no funds to rebuild.' The pool closed in February 2021 and work started in March. It was originally forecast to reopen in November 2022. The cost of the project has nearly doubled from an initial estimate of $58 million. Developer Icon says construction on the complex will be completed in October; the council has estimated it likely won't be finished until November and might not open until early next year.
The Age
24-05-2025
- Business
- The Age
Sydneysiders were facing a 50 per cent water bill hike. That's now been halved
Households will be spared steep bill increases after the pricing regulator halved those sought by Sydney Water, which had called for a 50 per cent hike to pay for much-needed infrastructure upgrades. However, furious developers say the move to limit hip-pocket pain over the next five years will only undermine housing supply. 'You can't have more homes without more water infrastructure,' Urban Development Institute of Australia chief executive Stuart Ayres said. The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal's (IPART) draft report includes an average 4.6 per cent increase, about $61, for each of the next five years before inflation. As a state-owned monopoly utility provider, Sydney Water's pricing is set on five-year terms by the regulator. A final report is due in September and stakeholders are expecting little change to IPART's draft determination. The 23 per cent hike is less than half of what Sydney Water proposed in a controversial submission to IPART in late November 2024. Household water bills would have soared by 50 per cent in the five years to 2030, including an 18 per cent rise in the first year alone. Under IPART's revised proposal, average bills would increase from $1220 in 2024-25 to $1527 in the last year of the determination, excluding inflation. Comparatively, Sydney Water's submission would have resulted in an increase in the typical household bill to $1928 by 2029-30. The hike was justified by the agency's then-chief executive Roch Cheroux as being essential to 'manage Sydney's water future', predominantly to ensure infrastructure was upgraded and expanded in line with the state's target of 377,000 new homes under the National Housing Accord.
Sydney Morning Herald
24-05-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Sydneysiders were facing a 50 per cent water bill hike. That's now been halved
Households will be spared steep bill increases after the pricing regulator halved those sought by Sydney Water, which had called for a 50 per cent hike to pay for much-needed infrastructure upgrades. However, furious developers say the move to limit hip-pocket pain over the next five years will only undermine housing supply. 'You can't have more homes without more water infrastructure,' Urban Development Institute of Australia chief executive Stuart Ayres said. The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal's (IPART) draft report includes an average 4.6 per cent increase, about $61, for each of the next five years before inflation. As a state-owned monopoly utility provider, Sydney Water's pricing is set on five-year terms by the regulator. A final report is due in September and stakeholders are expecting little change to IPART's draft determination. The 23 per cent hike is less than half of what Sydney Water proposed in a controversial submission to IPART in late November 2024. Household water bills would have soared by 50 per cent in the five years to 2030, including an 18 per cent rise in the first year alone. Under IPART's revised proposal, average bills would increase from $1220 in 2024-25 to $1527 in the last year of the determination, excluding inflation. Comparatively, Sydney Water's submission would have resulted in an increase in the typical household bill to $1928 by 2029-30. The hike was justified by the agency's then-chief executive Roch Cheroux as being essential to 'manage Sydney's water future', predominantly to ensure infrastructure was upgraded and expanded in line with the state's target of 377,000 new homes under the National Housing Accord.
