Water Corporation will withdraw Average Daily Use method of billing

4/3/99
The Water Corporation will withdraw its "average daily use" (ADU) method of billing in favour of a modified version of its previous system.
Water Resources Minister Dr Hames said today the change would be made immediately and those customers who had paid more for their water under ADU would have their accounts credited or be reimbursed.
Other measures include:

• Water Corporation customers keeping, for the current year, the increased allowance of 165 kilolitres of water at the cheapest price that was introduced with ADU billing;
• letters to customers explaining the adjustments. The letters will be included in customers' accounts as they will still be billed under the ADU method for about a month - the time needed to change the corporation's computer billing system;
• after this time customer accounts will be adjusted and customers with large credits will be notified;
• continuing the corporation's toll-free hotline, 1800 682 878, for people who wanted to discuss their bills; and -
• an information campaign to explain to customers how the changes will work and how credits and repayments will be handled.

Dr Hames said changes had been made to ensure the removal of retrospective price increases, one of the major reasons for changing to ADU billing in January last year.
"I believe that is vital in any billing system adopted by the corporation," he said.
Dr Hames said the corporation had responded rapidly and efficiently to the problems which emerged with the ADU billing method.
"The corporation was quick to admit the problems and fix them to ensure customers are not disadvantaged, an attitude I believe is to be applauded," he said.
Water Corporation Board chairman Peter Jones said it had been decided to revert to a modified version of the former system after an internal taskforce, assisted by national economics consultants Marsden Jacobs Associates, spent last week reviewing the billing method and researching alternatives.
"The major objective of the taskforce was to ensure any new system was fair and equitable to customers," he said.
"It found that although ADU was relevant to metropolitan customers, some country customers were penalised because it was too sensitive to seasonal consumption variations."
Mr Jones said that under the changes, customers would still progress through the price levels as they used up their allocation of cheaper water over the consumption year.
"Under the ADU system the allowances were calculated daily, which meant those high consumers got into higher price levels each day," he said.
"Consumption bills for people moving house will continue to be calculated under the ADU method while further discussions were held with the settlement industry to develop an alternative."
Dr Hames reminded consumers that in 1998/99 there had been a general price increase of three per cent and larger increases for the higher consumption levels.
"Customers should not confuse this increase with the billing method," he said.
"Water is a precious commodity which should not be wasted and this is reflected in the higher costs for those who use big amounts of water."
Media contact: Caroline Lacy 9424 7450
Water Corporation: Phil Kneebone 9420 2420.