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TASMANIA
__________
WATER AND SEWERAGE INDUSTRY
(COMMUNITY SERVICE OBLIGATION) BILL
2009
__________
CONTENTS
PART 1 - PRELIMINARY
1. Short title
2. Commencement
3. Interpretation
PART 2 - CONCESSIONS
4. Effect of concession
5. Eligibility for concession
6. Application for concession
7. Billing period in which concession begins and ends
8. Grant of concessions
9. Concession rate
10. Regulated entities to be notified when person ceases to be
eligible for concession
11. Offence of giving false information &c.
12. Notice of concession to be placed on accounts
13. Regulated entity may require repayment
[Bill 30]-XI
PART 3 - REIMBURSEMENT BY COUNCILS
14. Councils to reimburse relevant regulated entities the cost of
concession
15. Agreements to reimburse
PART 4 - MISCELLANEOUS
16. Status of instruments under this Act
17. Regulations
18. Administration of Act
19. Transitional provisions
PART 5 - CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENT OF LOCAL
GOVERNMENT (RATES AND CHARGES REMISSIONS)
REGULATIONS 2004
20. Principal Regulations
21. Regulation 5 amended (Maximum remission)
22. Amendment of regulation not to constrain future regulations
2
WATER AND SEWERAGE INDUSTRY
(COMMUNITY SERVICE OBLIGATION) BILL
2009
(Brought in by the Minister for Primary Industries and Water,
the Honourable David Edward Llewellyn)
A BILL FOR
An Act to establish obligations of regulated entities to
reduce the cost of regulated services provided to certain
customers by the entities, to amend the Local Government
(Rates and Charges Remissions) Regulations 2004 and for
related purposes
Be it enacted by His Excellency the Governor of Tasmania, by
and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and
House of Assembly, in Parliament assembled, as follows:
PART 1 - PRELIMINARY
1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Water and
Sewerage Industry (Community Service
Obligation) Act 2009.
2. Commencement
This Act commences on 1 July 2009.
[Bill 30] 3
Water and Sewerage Industry (Community Service Obligation)
Act 2009
Act No. of
s. 3 Part 1 - Preliminary
3. Interpretation
(1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention
appears -
"billing period", in relation to a customer of
a regulated entity, means the period to
which an account received by the
customer from the regulated entity
relates;
"concession" means a concession granted
under section 8;
"concession amount", for a billing period,
has the meaning it has in section 9(7);
"eligible customer of a regulated entity in
respect of a dwelling" has the meaning
it has in section 5;
"region" means the northern region, the
north-western region or the southern
region;
"relevant regulated entity" means a
Regional Corporation within the meaning
of the Water and Sewerage Corporations
Act 2008;
"spouse", in relation to a person, means a
person who is married to the person or
who is in a significant relationship,
within the meaning of the Relationships
Act 2003, with the person;
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Water and Sewerage Industry (Community Service Obligation)
Act 2009
Act No. of
Part 1 - Preliminary s. 3
"statutory authority" means a body or
authority, whether incorporated or not,
that is established or constituted under a
written law of the Commonwealth or the
State or under the royal prerogative.
(2) Unless the contrary intention appears, an
expression used in this Act has the same
meaning as it has in the Water and Sewerage
Industry Act 2008.
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Act 2009
Act No. of
s. 4 Part 2 - Concessions
PART 2 - CONCESSIONS
4. Effect of concession
(1) An eligible customer of a regulated entity in
respect of a dwelling who is granted the
concession is entitled to have the amount, for a
billing period, of a relevant fixed charge that the
customer is liable to pay to the entity in respect
of that dwelling reduced by the concession
amount for the billing period.
(2) Despite subsection (1), if the amount of a fixed
charge in respect of a dwelling only relates to a
water service, or a sewerage service, in respect
of that dwelling, but not both, the customer is
only entitled to have the amount, of that fixed
charge, that the customer is liable to pay reduced
by half the concession amount for the billing
period.
(3) Nothing in this section is to be taken to entitle a
person to have any part of the concession
amount for a billing period carried over to any
other billing period.
(4) In this section -
"fixed charge", in relation to a dwelling,
means a charge that is not calculated by
reference to -
(a) the volume of water actually
supplied to; or
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Water and Sewerage Industry (Community Service Obligation)
Act 2009
Act No. of
Part 2 - Concessions s. 5
(b) the volume of sewage or waste
actually removed from -
the dwelling, but does not include any
penalty or interest charges imposed on
the person.
5. Eligibility for concession
(1) A person is an eligible customer of a regulated
entity in respect of a dwelling if the person -
(a) is a member of a class of persons
prescribed in the regulations to be
eligible for the concession; and
(b) occupies the dwelling as his or her
principal place of residence; and
(c) is a customer of the regulated entity in
relation to the dwelling.
(2) A person is an eligible customer of a regulated
entity in respect of a dwelling if the person -
(a) is a member of a class of persons
prescribed in the regulations to be
eligible for the concession; and
(b) resides in a prescribed institution; and
(c) is a customer of a regulated entity in
relation to the dwelling; and
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Water and Sewerage Industry (Community Service Obligation)
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Act No. of
s. 5 Part 2 - Concessions
(d) does not receive rental income from the
dwelling; and
(e) does not have a spouse, or if the person
has a spouse, the spouse resides in a
prescribed institution and does not
receive rental income from the dwelling.
(3) A person is an eligible customer of a regulated
entity in respect of a dwelling if the person -
(a) is a member of a class of persons
prescribed in the regulations to be
eligible for the concession; and
(b) resides in a prescribed institution; and
(c) is a customer of a regulated entity in
relation to the dwelling; and
(d) has a spouse who occupies the dwelling
as his or her principal place of residence.
(4) A person is an eligible customer of a regulated
entity in respect of a dwelling if -
(a) the person was, immediately before the
death of another person, the spouse of the
other person; and
(b) the other person was, immediately before
his or her death, an eligible customer of a
regulated entity in respect of the dwelling
who had been granted the concession;
and
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Water and Sewerage Industry (Community Service Obligation)
Act 2009
Act No. of
Part 2 - Concessions s. 6
(c) the person occupies the dwelling as his
or her principal place of residence; and
(d) the person is a customer of the regulated
entity in relation to the dwelling.
(5) This section does not apply in relation to a
person in respect of more than one dwelling.
(6) At the end of the period of 2 years after a person
who is eligible for the grant of the concession
under subsection (2) or (3) is granted the
concession, subsections (2) or (3), respectively,
cease to apply to the person.
(7) Subsection (4) does not apply to a person at the
end of the period of 2 years after the person's
spouse dies.
6. Application for concession
(1) An eligible customer of a regulated entity in
respect of a dwelling may apply to the entity for
the concession to be granted in relation to a
water service or a sewerage service, or both,
provided, or to be provided, in relation to the
dwelling by the entity.
(2) An application under subsection (1) to a
regulated entity is to be -
(a) in the manner and form required by the
regulated entity; and
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Water and Sewerage Industry (Community Service Obligation)
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Act No. of
s. 7 Part 2 - Concessions
(b) accompanied by the documents or
information that the regulated entity
reasonably requires.
(3) Without limiting subsection (2)(b), the
information that may reasonably be required to
accompany an application under subsection (1)
by a person includes -
(a) a number, or evidence of a card, that
identifies the person for the purposes of
another statutory authority of Tasmania
or the Commonwealth; and
(b) if section 5(2), (3) or (4) applies to the
person, a statutory declaration as to any
of the matters specified in one of those
subsections.
7. Billing period in which concession begins and ends
(1) An eligible customer of a regulated entity in
respect of a dwelling may make an application
under section 6(1) at any time after he or she
becomes a customer of the entity in relation to
the dwelling.
(2) A concession granted to an eligible customer of
a regulated entity in respect of a dwelling applies
to the customer -
(a) for each day, in the billing period in
which the concession was granted to the
customer by the regulated entity, that
10
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Act 2009
Act No. of
Part 2 - Concessions s. 8
occurs after the day on which the
concession was granted; and
(b) for each day in a billing period, after the
billing period referred to in
paragraph (a), that is a billing period in
which the customer was, for part or all of
the period, an eligible customer of the
regulated entity in respect of the
dwelling.
8. Grant of concessions
(1) A regulated entity that receives from a person an
application for a concession under section 6(1)
must, within 21 days, by notice to the person,
determine the application.
(2) Subsection (1) only applies to a regulated entity
in relation to an application from a person, if the
entity has obtained from the person all the
information it requires to determine the
application.
(3) The regulated entity is to determine the
application from the person -
(a) by granting the concession to the person,
if the entity is satisfied the person is an
eligible customer of the regulated entity
in respect of the dwelling to which the
application relates; or
11
Water and Sewerage Industry (Community Service Obligation)
Act 2009
Act No. of
s. 9 Part 2 - Concessions
(b) by refusing to grant the concession to the
person, if the entity is not satisfied the
person is an eligible customer of the
regulated entity in respect of the dwelling
to which the application relates.
(4) Only one eligible customer of a regulated entity
in respect of a dwelling may be granted a
concession in respect of a dwelling.
9. Concession rate
(1) The regulations must prescribe an amount in
dollars to be the base amount for regulated
entities for each financial year.
(2) The councils within a region may, in a financial
year, determine by notice in the Gazette that the
base amount for regulated entities within the
region for each subsequent financial year is to be
an amount, specified in the notice, that is greater
than the base amount prescribed in the
regulations for the purpose of subsection (1).
(3) A determination may only be made under
subsection (2) if more than 50% of the councils
in the region agree to the making of the
determination.
(4) Despite subsection (1), if the councils within a
region make a determination under
subsection (2) for each subsequent financial
year, the base amount for regulated entities
within the region for each subsequent financial
12
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Act No. of
Part 2 - Concessions s. 9
year is to be the amount specified in the
determination.
(5) The regulations may prescribe a percentage
amount by which the base amount for regulated
entities under subsection (1) or (4) is to be
increased or decreased for a financial year.
(6) If the regulations prescribe a percentage amount
by which the base amount for regulated entities
is to be increased or decreased for a financial
year then, despite subsections (1) and (4) -
(a) the base amount for regulated entities for
that financial year is increased or
decreased in accordance with that
percentage amount; and
(b) the base amount for regulated entities for
each subsequent financial year is the base
amount for the previous year, as
increased or decreased, if at all, for that
subsequent financial year under
paragraph (a).
(7) The concession amount for a billing period in
respect of a regulated entity is, for each day,
within the billing period, for which the
concession applies in accordance with section 7,
the amount equal to 1/365th of the base amount
for the regulated entity for the financial year.
13
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Act No. of
s. 10 Part 2 - Concessions
10. Regulated entities to be notified when person ceases
to be eligible for concession
(1) A person who -
(a) is an eligible customer of a regulated
entity in respect of a dwelling; and
(b) has been granted a concession by the
regulated entity -
must not fail, without reasonable excuse, to
notify the entity within 21 days of ceasing to be
an eligible customer of the entity in respect of a
dwelling.
Penalty: 2 penalty units.
(2) A notification under subsection (1) to a regulated
entity is to be made in the manner approved by
the regulated entity.
11. Offence of giving false information &c.
A person must not, in giving any information
under this Act -
(a) make a statement knowing it to be false
or misleading; or
(b) omit any matter from a statement
knowing that without that matter the
statement is false or misleading.
Penalty: 2 penalty units.
14
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Act 2009
Act No. of
Part 2 - Concessions s. 12
12. Notice of concession to be placed on accounts
A regulated entity must include, in a notice
charging a customer an amount for a regulated
service provided by the regulated entity, a
statement that concessions are available for
eligible customers.
13. Regulated entity may require repayment
(1) A regulated entity, by written notice to a person
granted the concession under this Act, may
require the person to repay to the entity an
amount that the person would have, but for the
concession, been required to pay to the entity.
(2) A regulated entity may only require a person to
repay an amount that the person would have, but
for the concession, been required to pay to the
entity, if the person was not entitled to the
concession in respect of the amount.
15
Water and Sewerage Industry (Community Service Obligation)
Act 2009
Act No. of
s. 14 Part 3 - Reimbursement by councils
PART 3 - REIMBURSEMENT BY COUNCILS
14. Councils to reimburse relevant regulated entities
the cost of concession
(1) A council is liable to pay to a relevant regulated
entity the total amounts foregone in a financial
year by the entity because of concessions in
force in respect of dwellings situated in the
municipal area of the council.
(2) The total amounts foregone in a financial year by
a relevant regulated entity in respect of
dwellings is the total of the amounts that the
entity has not been paid for the financial year by
eligible customers of the entity in respect of the
dwellings because of the concessions granted to
the customers in relation to the dwellings.
15. Agreements to reimburse
(1) The councils in a region must together enter into
an agreement under this section with a relevant
regulated entity established in the region.
(2) An agreement under this section between the
councils and a relevant regulated entity is to
include provisions relating to -
(a) the manner and form in which payments
are to be made to the regulated entity by
the councils in accordance with
section 14; and
16
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Act 2009
Act No. of
Part 3 - Reimbursement by councils s. 15
(b) the timing of the payments; and
(c) the information and records to be
provided to the councils by the regulated
entity in relation to concessions granted
to eligible customers of the entity; and
(d) the manner in which disputes between
the regulated entity and the councils in
relation to matters set out in the
agreement are to be resolved; and
(e) other matters that the regulations may
prescribe.
(3) An agreement under this section may include
provisions requiring a council to pay to the
relevant regulated entity a penalty, of an amount
specified in the agreement, for failing to pay to
the entity an amount that is due to the entity in
accordance with the agreement.
(4) An agreement under this section is to be entered
into within 6 months after the day on which this
Act commences.
(5) If the relevant regulated entities and the councils
in a region do not enter into an agreement under
this section within 6 months after the day on
which this Act commences -
(a) the Treasurer is to prepare an agreement;
and
(b) the relevant regulated entities and the
councils in the region are to be taken to
17
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Act No. of
s. 15 Part 3 - Reimbursement by councils
have entered into the agreement on the
day specified in the agreement.
(6) In preparing an agreement under
subsection (5)(a), the Treasurer is to have regard
to any draft agreement for the purpose of this
section to which more than half of the councils
in the region have agreed.
(7) An agreement under this section remains in force
for the period, of not more than 3 years,
specified in the agreement.
(8) No later than 6 months before the expiry of an
agreement under this section entered into by the
councils in a region and a relevant regulated
entity, the councils and the relevant regulated
entity must enter into a further agreement under
this section.
(9) If the councils and a relevant regulated entity do
not, in accordance with subsection (8), enter into
a further agreement under this section in the
period specified in that subsection, then -
(a) despite subsection (7), the agreement
under this section that is in force does not
expire at the end of the period specified
in the agreement but instead remains in
force until a further agreement is entered
into in accordance with paragraph (b);
and
(b) the councils and the relevant regulated
entity may, in accordance with this
18
Water and Sewerage Industry (Community Service Obligation)
Act 2009
Act No. of
Part 3 - Reimbursement by councils s. 15
paragraph, enter into a further agreement
under this section.
19
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Act 2009
Act No. of
s. 16 Part 4 - Miscellaneous
PART 4 - MISCELLANEOUS
16. Status of instruments under this Act
Unless the contrary intention appears, a notice
under this Act is not a statutory rule for the
purposes of the Rules Publication Act 1953.
17. Regulations
(1) The Governor may make regulations for the
purposes of this Act.
(2) Without limiting the generality of subsection (1),
the regulations may prescribe matters necessary
or convenient to be prescribed for the purposes
of this Act.
(3) The regulations may be made so as to apply
differently according to such factors as are
specified in the regulations.
18. Administration of Act
Until provision is made in relation to this Act by
order under section 4 of the Administrative
Arrangements Act 1990 -
(a) the administration of this Act is assigned
to the Treasurer; and
20
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Act 2009
Act No. of
Part 4 - Miscellaneous s. 19
(b) the department responsible to the
Treasurer in relation to the administration
of this Act is the Department of Treasury
and Finance.
19. Transitional provisions
(1) In this section -
"automatically eligible person" means a
person who was, immediately before the
commencement day -
(a) an eligible pensioner under the
Local Government (Rates and
Charges Remissions) Act 1991;
and
(b) a person in respect of whom an
application under that Act was
granted and was in force; and
(c) a person to whom a water service
or a sewerage service was
provided by a council in respect
of the dwelling to which the
application relates;
"commencement day" means the day on
which this Act comes into force.
(2) A council in a regional area must, within 30 days
after the commencement day, notify each
regulated entity established in the region of -
21
Water and Sewerage Industry (Community Service Obligation)
Act 2009
Act No. of
s. 19 Part 4 - Miscellaneous
(a) the names and addresses of all persons
who had paid, or were liable to pay, to
the council rates in respect of a water
service or a sewerage service for the
2008-2009 financial year and who were,
immediately before that day,
automatically eligible persons; and
(b) any other relevant information that is
held in respect of those persons by the
council and that the councils are
requested by an entity to provide to the
entity.
(3) On and from the commencement day, an
automatically eligible person to whom
section 5(1), (2) or (3) applies who is a customer
of a regulated entity in relation to a dwelling is
to be taken to be -
(a) an eligible customer of the regulated
entity in respect of the dwelling under
section 5(1), (2) or (3) respectively; and
(b) a person who has been granted the
concession under this Act because the
person was eligible under section 5(1),
(2) or (3), as the case may be.
(4) Despite subsection (3), a person to whom that
subsection applies ceases to be an eligible
customer of the regulated entity in respect of the
dwelling under section 5(1), (2) or (3) if
section 5(1), (2) or (3), respectively, ceases to
apply to the person.
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Act 2009
Act No. of
Part 4 - Miscellaneous s. 19
(5) Despite section 5(6), a person who has, under
subsection (3), been granted the concession
under this Act because the person was eligible
under section 5(2) or (3) is not entitled to the
concession after he or she has received the
concession, or a remission of rates or charges
under section 4 of the Local Government (Rates
and Charges Remissions) Act 1991, or a
combination of both, for 2 consecutive years.
(6) A regulated entity, within 60 days after the
commencement day, must in writing inform each
automatically eligible person of whom the entity
is notified under subsection (2) that the person
has been granted the concession under this Act.
23
Water and Sewerage Industry (Community Service Obligation)
Act 2009
Act No. of
s. 20 Part 5 - Consequential Amendment of Local Government (Rates and
Charges Remissions) Regulations 2004
PART 5 - CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENT OF
LOCAL GOVERNMENT (RATES AND CHARGES
REMISSIONS) REGULATIONS 2004
20. Principal Regulations
In this Part, the Local Government (Rates and
Charges Remissions) Regulations 2004* are
referred to as the Principal Regulations.
21. Regulation 5 amended (Maximum remission)
Regulation 5 of the Principal Regulations is
amended by inserting after subregulation (2) the
following subregulation:
(2A) For the purposes of section 4(2) of the
Act, and for the purposes of the
application of subregulations (1) and (2)
in relation to any subsequent financial
year, the maximum amount that may be
remitted, for the 2009-2010 financial
year, in relation to an area of land, the
owner or occupier of which is a customer
within the meaning of the Water and
Sewerage Industry Act 2008, is $262.
*S.R. 2004, No. 141
24
Water and Sewerage Industry (Community Service Obligation)
Act 2009
Act No. of
Part 5 - Consequential Amendment of Local Government (Rates and Charges s. 22
Remissions) Regulations 2004
22. Amendment of regulation not to constrain future
regulations
The amendment of regulation 5 of the Principal
Regulations effected by section 21 does not
prevent the amendment or rescission of that
regulation by a subsequent regulation.
Government Printer, Tasmania 25