Soaring summer water use swells SA Water’s coffers

SOARING summer temperatures have prompted SA Water’s revenue to jump up to $24 million as water consumption hits its highest levels in 12 years.

Little girl in a garden with green watering can

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SOARING summer temperatures have prompted SA Water’s revenue to jump up to $24 million as water consumption hits its highest levels in 12 years.

The increased revenue is a boost to State Government coffers as householders struggle to keep their gardens alive while paying the highest water prices in the nation.

The increased revenue means a “higher dividend’’ to the Government because of the “higher than budgeted water consumption for the first half of 2015-16, due to warmer weather conditions’’, SA Water said.

The taxpayer-owned water utility, however, refused to release figures showing the extent of the revenue windfall.

But, if the extra water used this summer was charged at the top water price rate paid by householders it would total $24.4 million. Even if charged at the cheapest of the three price rates, the extra water would yield a $15.8 million revenue bonus.

“We don’t release historical or budget financial information except through the usual government budgeting and reporting processes to ensure there is appropriate governance around the audit and release of that information,’’ an SA Water spokesman said in a statement to the Sunday Mail.

“The flow-on effects of this (higher dividend) include an increased investment into infrastructure and essential services for the state, e.g. schools and hospitals.’’

While welcomed rain fell this week, residents have had to use the tap to compensate for receiving just half the average rainfall last month and to deal with a record breaking six-day heatwave.

Last month Adelaide’s water consumption was 19,046ML — compared with the 10-year average of 14,911ML — the highest since 2003, according to SA Water. The extra water used was enough to fill more than 1650 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Over the first 19 days of this month the city’s water consumption was 12,597ML compared with 9994ML, on average, over the same period.

SA Water said it had already adjusted its revenue budget for the first half of this financial year because of the surge in water use and that if the weather “remains hot and dry ... and water consumption trends continue, the forecast (for the remainder of the financial year) will be adjusted accordingly.’’

Opposition water spokesman Tim Whetstone said it would be reasonable to assume “a high percentage of householders’’ would be using the extra water at the top water price rate of $3.63kL.

“But it’s outrageous that SA Water won’t say how much extra money it is earning from water sales revenue,’’ he said.

“This extra revenue should be used to decrease the burden on householders of having to pay the highest water prices in the nation.’’

SA Water said there should be some relief on water bills next financial year.

“We currently expect water and sewerage prices to decrease by 0.7 per cent and 9 per cent respectively in 2016-17’’, a spokesman said.

“This recommendation is contained in our Regulatory Business Proposal for 2016-20 (submitted to the industry regulator ESCOSA).’’