Water rates head north while service heads south
A typical water bill on the Central Coast will rise 11.9 per cent from $1414 per year to $1582 per year on July 1.
This means Central Coast water bills will have risen 51 per cent in just three years.
In contrast, Sydney Water and Hunter Water will not be increasing prices at all next year.
A typical water bill in Sydney remains $1232 and Hunter $1407.
This means Central Coast customers will be paying 28 per cent more than Sydney customers for a worse service.
Despite these massive increases, Central Coast Council's last annual performance report showed water quality complaints were up more than 30 per cent, unplanned service interruptions up 18 per cent, water lost to leaks up almost 20 per cent and water main breaks up 13 per cent.
And Council's last quarterly performance report presented in February showed Council performance eight per cent behind target on water quality complaints, 77 per cent behind target on unplanned interruptions, 26 per cent behind target on mains breaks and 54 per cent behind target on wastewater overflows.
In IPART's customer satisfaction surveys, Central Coast receives far lower customer satisfaction ratings that Hunter or Sydney (despite charging more), and indeed lower ratings than any of the "comparator Councils" from Victoria (selected as having similar characteristics to Central Coast and therefore ideal for comparison).
When Council applied for this four-year increase, many ratepayers warned IPART that throwing extra money at poorly performing and inefficient organisations doesn't necessarily deliver improved performance.
And that's exactly what we've seen with key performance indicators going backwards or well behind target.
The last quarterly performance report showed Council well behind target on water quality complaints, unplanned interruptions, mains breaks and wastewater overflows.
Water rates are heading north while service quality is heading south.
Customers are not getting value for money.
Things can't go on like this.
Improvements are needed in management performance, organisational culture, efficiency, and productivity.
SOURCE:
Email, 8 May 2024
Kevin Brooks, Bensville