HOUSEHOLDS will be slugged with a sharp jump in water bills starting this month. The Essential Services Commission ruled retailer South East Water can increase prices by 22.8 per cent from 1 July. The retailer services bayside suburbs from St Kilda to Frankston, the Mornington Peninsula, parts of the southeast and eastern Gippsland. The independent regulator decided metropolitan water prices could rise by an average of 22.4 per cent, plus inflation, with the majority of the increase required to recoup the construction of Victoria’s $5.7 billion desalination plant near Wonthaggi built by the Brumby Labor government and Melbourne Water. The…
Browsing: water
SELLING recycled water from Melbourne Water’s Eastern Treatment Plant near Carrum could raise at least $240 million a year. Clean Ocean Foundation president Peter Smith says South East Water is failing to adequately market the Class A quality water being poured daily into the sea at Gunnamatta on the Mornington Peninsula. Mr Smith for years led the battle that last year finally saw Melbourne Water lift the quality of water being discharged from the outfall. But with that battle won, Mr Smith says Clean Ocean is now concerned at the environmental effects of billions of litres of fresh water going…