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FACT SHEET
WATER AND SEWERAGE INDUSTRY (CONSEQUENTIAL AND
TRANSITIONAL) AMENDMENT BILL 2009
� The Water and Sewerage Industry (Consequential and Transitional)
Amendment Bill 2009 makes minor amendments to the Water and
Sewerage Industry (Consequential and Transitional) Act 2008.
� The Bill will facilitate the commencement of parts of the Act to occur at
different times.
� This will enable the amendments to the Tasmanian Public Finance
Corporation Act 1995 to commence prior to the full transfer of assets
scheduled for 1 July 2009.
� This will enable the regulated entities to develop additional organisational
capacity leading up to full transfer of assets, liabilities and employees on
1 July 2009.
� The Bill expands the transitional provisions contained in the Act to
improve the operation of the provisions and clarify the original policy
intent.
� The Bill clarifies that a council or bulk water authority can issue a notice
to collect and recover a charge for water after a person becomes a
customer of a regulated entity if that charge was incurred prior to full
transfer. This provision is also stipulated in respect of trade effluent
charges incurred under the Sewers and Drain Act 1954.
� In addition, the Bill formalises charging arrangements in the transitional
period. This is the period from when a person becomes a customer of a
regulated entity until such time as they enter into a contract with the
regulated entity for the provision of a regulated service or trade effluent
service. Therefore, the Bill clarifies the original intent of the Act by
allowing the regulated entities to charge its customers in the transitional
period on the same basis as if that customer were a customer of a council
or bulk water authority.
� The Bill allows changing arrangements in the transitional period to be
varied in accordance with an Interim Price Order that is issued under the
Water and Sewerage Industry Act 2008.
� The Bill does not represent a change in the policy intent of the Act.
Rather, it expands and refines the existing provisions to improve the
operational effectiveness of the Act.