Retirement villages to get some water relief

UNITYWATER has announced what it says will be significant savings for senior citizens struggling with increasing costs of living.

While unable to provide an exact figure retirees could expect to save, Mr Theo claimed villages as a whole could expect to see sizeable reductions.

UNITYWATER has announced what it says will be significant savings for senior citizens struggling with increasing costs of living.

Unitywater CEO George Theo yesterday unveiled new pricing structures for residents of retirement villages across the Coast, with almost 80% of retirement villages in the Unitywater service area set for a reduced water bill.

"We recognise that the cost-of-living pressures are significant on our most vulnerable in the community and Unitywater is doing the right thing by reducing the prices to those customers," Mr Theo said.

RELATED: Seniors to get cuts to their water bill

While unable to provide an exact figure retirees could expect to save, Mr Theo claimed villages as a whole could expect to see sizeable reductions.

"Retirement villages will go anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars in reductions in costs and that is significant for these people," he said.

Mr Theo said the savings had been made available due to a restructure in the way Unitywater billed its customers, after most residential customers had a reduction in access charges between $50 to $100 when they switched to the new tariffs more than 12 months ago.

"There was a lot of inequity in the tariffs across the region," Mr Theo said.

Caloundra Rise resident Robert Pugh welcomed the announcement.

The long-term Coast resident said any measure to ease the burden on elderly communities was a great idea.

"Well it's a great help because the cost of living really has been spiralling up, so anything that helps reduce the cost of living is most helpful because as a retiree your income is pretty well fixed and there's not much room to move, so any reduction is a great help," Mr Pugh said.

BILLS SLASHED

 Unitywater says as of October 1, 79% of retirement villages in its service area will receive cheaper bills

 Savings per village could vary anywhere between hundreds of dollars to thousands of dollars

 87 retirement villages in total set to benefit from the pricing restructure

Originally published as Retirement villages to get some water relief