Review of prices for the Water Administration Ministerial Corporation

10 Meter service and reading charges for users on
unregulated river and groundwater users
10.4.2 Separate metering charges
In addition to the meter service charges considered above, Table 10.1 shows that we
have decided to introduce the following meter related charges:
manual meter reading fee for user owned meters and meter equivalents – $192 per
meter, per annum
refundable deposit for resolving disputes related to the accuracy of meter reads
for government-installed meters- $1,500 per meter, per dispute
validation of a relocated meter for government-installed meters:
mechanical meters or ‘other’ meter – $105 per meter
electromagnetic meters – $195 per meter
channel meter with mobile phone or satellite telemetry coverage – $195 per meter.
Manual meter reading fees for user installed meters and approved meter equivalents
NOW did not propose a separate charge for reading existing, user-installed meters or
approved meter equivalents. Rather, it included its forecast costs of reading these
meters in its general cost base, to be recovered from all entitlement holders through
water management charges.
However, we have extracted these forecast costs from NOW’s cost base (as discussed
in Chapter 4), and instead set a separate charge for reading user-owned meters and
approved meter equivalents on unregulated rivers and groundwater sources. 158 This
is because we consider that entitlement holders with meters should pay for these
costs, rather than all entitlement holders (irrespective of whether they have meters).
This is also consistent with the approach taken to meter reading costs for
government-installed meters, which will be recovered through the meter service
charges listed in Section 10.4.1 above. This separate meter reading charge for userowned
meters is not dependent on the meter service charge for Government installed
meters coming into effect. As such, NOW does not face additional revenue risk
arising from this decision.
Our Draft Report set a meter reading charge of $131 per annum based on estimated
costs provided in the Nayar Consulting Report, and includes:
1 manual meter read per year at a cost of $75, and
a meter information system cost of $56.
158 The 2010 State Water Determination covers the costs of meters on the regulated water source.
The NOW component of the meter reading costs for regulated rivers are included in the State
Water charges. Therefore, to avoid double counting, the meter reading charge for user owned
meters applies to only the unregulated and groundwater sources (which are the sole
responsibility of NOW).
Review of prices for the Water Administration Ministerial Corporation IPART 161