At the direction of the Treasurer and Minister for Trade, the Queensland Competition Authority (QCA) has commenced a price monitoring investigation into the Gladstone Area Water Board (GAWB).
“GAWB is developing its proposed prices for 2015 to 2020. The QCA will assess these prices to ensure that the Board is not using its market power to set unjustifiably high prices,” said QCA Chairman Malcolm Roberts.
“Price monitoring provides an independent, public assessment of whether GAWB is operating efficiently and recovering no more than the revenue required to sustain the business,” said Malcolm Roberts.
The review will examine GAWB’s capital and operating expenditure and its forecasts of water demand.
“The investigation into 2010–15 prices identified significant savings in capital and operating expenses. Unfortunately, these savings were outweighed by other factors such as a higher cost of capital and lower than forecast demand which pushed prices up,” said Malcolm Roberts.
Public involvement is a key part of the QCA’s decision-making process. We invite registrations of interest and initial submissions from interested parties by 30 September 2014.
A draft report will be submitted to the State Government by 28 February 2015, with a final report submitted by 31 May 2015.
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