Water Industry Policy

The Department provides advice to the Minister for Water Resources in order to support the Minister's role in setting licensing policy and regulations for water service providers, which are administered by the Economic Regulation Authority. The Minister is also responsible for issuing pricing references on water matters to the ERA.

The Department provides the Minister with advice in relation to setting the by-laws that control water prices charged by providers and assists the Minister in the development of water industry policy. Key areas include competition and industry structure policy and meeting Western Australia's obligations under the National Competition Policy Agreement.

The Department supports the Minister's responsibilities in the following areas:

• Water services licensing policy and the regulations independently administered by the Economic Regulation Authority
• Water industry competition and strategic structural reform
• Industry structure and competition strategies
• Sustainable water services and planning
• Leadership and coordination of aspects of strategic and high level water industry planning
• Equity issues, such as uniform pricing and Community Service Obligations
• Water services policy inputs into regional development
• Efficiency in water services through pricing and licensing
• Research and review of global trends and developments in strategic water industry policy and planning, and
• Sponsoring research and development in the water industry.

Document Water Service Licensing Policies

A review is being undertaken to determine whether the current Licensing Policies administered by the ERA are appropriate and effective, and to identify the gaps or overlaps in existing licensing policy.

State/Commonwealth Bilateral Indigenous Affairs Services Delivery

The Department is a member of the Services Working Group in Premier & Cabinet that will prepare strategic issues papers for bilateral negotiations and engage in Service Delivery Workshops with the Commonwealth Government.

Competition Policy Review

Recommendation 6 of the WSC Act Review was to review and clarify policies to assist stakeholders. We will now undertake a review and clarify competition policy to assist stakeholders and regulators in the industry and identify opportunities to improve efficiency, effectiveness and levels of customer service.

Advice to Minister on Pricing

Under current regulatory arrangements, the Minister for Water Resources is responsible for setting water prices for industry service providers. The Department is reviewing pricing submissions made by water service providers such as Aqwest and the Busselton Water Board. The Department also provides independent advice and support to the Minister regarding matters arising from references undertaken by the ERA.

Sustainable Indigenous Communities

The Department is a member of the Indigenous Remote and Town-based Communities Group in Premier & Cabinet and will prepare issues papers, contribute ideas and identify opportunities to enhance investments in water services.

Infrastructure Security

Maintains a watching brief on security issues, developments, governance and plans relevant to the physical security of critical water infrastructure in Western Australia.

State of the Environment Water Supply Sector Group

The Department is conducting a critical review of the SoE and will review the most recent report compiled in 1998 up until the present. We will assess how the water sector should be reporting to SoE, and its role. The review will also investigate how water sector providers affect the environment and how they are monitored in respect to the services they are providing.

Dam Safety Cost Sharing Agreement

The Department has undertaken research to evaluate and make recommendations on alternatives for dam safety risk management to inform the deliberations of the Dam Safety Working Group that was set up by Cabinet.

The Department has been involved in negotiations with the Water Corporation and Harvey Water on the sharing of costs for dam safety upgrades arising from Australian National Committee on Large Dams guidelines.

Rural Water Supply Investment Appraisal Steering Committee

As part of its National Competition Policy commitments and in line with national water reforms, WA has agreed that future investments in rural water schemes will only be undertaken after appraisal indicates they will be economically and environmentally sustainable. The Rural Water Supply Investment Appraisal Steering Committee will ensure that appropriate approvals processes have been undertaken to assess the economic and ecological impacts of proposed investments for which the government contribution will exceed $15 million over a period of five years.

The Committee will make recommendations to the Minister for Water Resources on investments in rural areas within Western Australia, which the Committee's terms of reference defines as any areas not connected to the greater metropolitan, Bunbury or Busselton schemes.

The Department chairs and provides secretariat support to the committee which includes representatives from the Department of Treasury and Finance and the State Water Taskforce and the Department of Environment. The committee is currently finalising the process for referral of proposals for appraisal.

Water Services Customer Complaints

We can help customers of water service providers by investigating and mediating in disputes about:

• water;
• sewerage;
• drainage;
• and irrigation services

that have not been settled through the service provider’s usual complaint resolution mechanisms.
The Department is independent of service providers and our investigations are free and confidential.
We do not investigate matters such as:

• contractual issues;
• the issuing of water allocations; or
• the protection of rivers, lakes or groundwater.

Other agencies are responsible for these.

Where the Department decides that a water service provider is at fault, we will recommend that the service provider take a specific course of action to resolve the matter in a way that is fair and reasonable to both the customer and the service provider. However, we cannot direct a service provider to take action.