A typical Canberra family would have to stump up another $70 every year for the next half a decade to cover their water and sewerage bill, under a proposed price increase to meet the costs of upgrading infrastructure and adapting to climate change.
Icon Water said the typical water customer in the ACT would face a 4.5 per cent annual increase to their water bill over the five years to 2028, if the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission approves the monopoly water supplier's price proposal.
The price increases were needed to cover the cost of significant upgrades for ageing infrastructure and to ensure it could service a city of 600,000 people in a warming climate, the water supplier said.
Significant upgrades will be needed to meet the demand for sewerage beyond 2030, while much of the water infrastructure built during Canberra's expansion about 50 years ago will need maintenance and replacement.
The water and sewerage provider has proposed spending $702 million on infrastructure between 2023 and 2028, up from $487 million between 2018 and 2023.
About 60 per cent of the proposed capital expenditure would be spent on renewing existing infrastructure, including 35 per cent of the total budget for two projects at the Lower Molonglo Water Quality Control Centre.
Of the infrastructure spend, $226 million would be spent on water projects and $476 million on waste water projects.
A statement from the Icon Water board said it shared the community's concern about affordability and economy-wide price pressures.
"We need to make responsible investments so future generations are not left to pay - either through high bills, environmental damage or poor quality and unreliable services," the statement said.
"We are proposing a sensible, rigorously assessed investment program for the five-year period that focusses on renewing and upgrading critical infrastructure."
The price structure would remain the same under the proposal.
"Nonetheless, we recognise that some customers - especially larger, non-residential customers - feel that our tariffs could be more fair," Icon Water said in its proposal.
"We will continue to engage with our customers on how our tariff structure can be improved, including the potential for future tariff reform where this can be done while safeguarding affordability for all customers."
Icon Water gave the example of a family of four living in a suburban Canberra house, who would see their combined water and sewerage bill rise from $1681 in 2023-24 to $1973 in 2027-28, with annual increases of about 4 per cent.
A single person living in a small unit would see annual increases in their bill of about 5 per cent, rising from $975 in 2023-24 to $1180 in 2027-28.
The water utility said in its price proposal a football club using 30,000 kilolitres of water a year would face annual price increases of 3.1 per cent a year to 2028, with the total bill rising from just under $147,000 to almost $165,900 between 2023-24 and 2027-28.
The Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission will review Icon Water's price proposal before setting the prices in the first half of next year following a public consultation process.
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