Council quiz QUU about city's expensive water, sewage costs

Ipswich residents are paying $61 more than their Brisbane counterparts.

IPSWICH residents are paying $61 more for water than their Brisbane counterparts from an entity the council remains a shareholder in.

Ipswich City Council owns about 12% of Queensland Urban Utilities; the retailer established in 2010 to deliver water to several council areas.

But west of Brisbane, the price of water consumption per kilolitre, water access and sewage access charges are higher.

For the water access charge, Ipswich ratepayers pay $80.61 compared to $51.63 for the same connection in Brisbane.

At $152.04, the west also pays $20.01 more for the sewerage access charge.

Queensland Urban Utilities services customers in the Brisbane, Ipswich, Lockyer Valley, Scenic Rim and Somerset areas.

The company handed down its quarterly report this week.

At the council's City Management, Community Engagement and Finance Committee meeting, councillors questioned why their constituents were charged more for water than Brisbane's residents.

The council's chief financial officer, Andrew Roach, described the pricing disparity as a complex situation and the council later referred questions about pricing to the water body.

Queensland Urban Utilities spokeswoman, Michelle Cull, did not describe why access charges or water consumption rates were more expensive in Ipswich compared to other local government areas.

"Our annual average price increase in Ipswich over the past seven years has been 1.1%, which is less than the average annual Consumer Price Index of 2.2%," she said.

Ms Cull cited infrastructure projects in the region as positive reinvestment.

"At the same time we've still been able to invest a total of $377 million in capital works in Ipswich since 2010," she said.

"This included the $117 million upgrade of the Goodna Sewage Treatment Plant, which is one of our biggest projects to date."

Ms Cull said the body had taken steps to equalise prices in the five local council areas.

"In 2016-2017 we standardised the residential water consumption tariffs to two tiers across all five regions," she said.

"In 2017-2018, our prices changed by different amounts in each region as a step towards making prices more consistent."

The state bulk water charge covers the cost incurred by Queensland Urban Utilities of buying treated water from the Queensland Government.

It is applied based on how much water each premises uses. The quarterly report handed to councillors noted a "favourable" financial result, largely driven by continued increases in development activity.

The return payment for 2016-2017 - based on Ipswich City Council's participation rate of 12.22% - was paid to the council on September 29.

Rights paid to the council totalled $20.15 million.

Brisbane City Council was paid $140 million for its 85% participation.

The report noted Queensland Urban Utilities was on track to deliver its $22.3 million infrastructure budget in Ipswich.

Water comparison

Ipswich

Water access charge: $80.61

Sewerage access charge: $152.04

Tier consumption charges: $0.93 per kilolitre

State bulk water charge: $225.36

Brisbane

Water access charge: $51.63

Sewerage access charge: $131.97

Tier consumption charges: $0.76 per kilolitre

State bulk water charge: $225.36

Originally published as Council quiz QUU about city's expensive water, sewage costs