2023 Review of the water third party access regime
- Project Released: 7 Aug 2023
- Project Closes: June 2024
- Contact: Mark Caputo
Overview
On 1 July 2016, a regime was established that provides a framework for third parties to negotiate access to specified water and sewerage infrastructure services provided by SA Water, with the potential for arbitration should negotiations fail. The Commission is the regulator of that access regime.
Under the Water Industry Act 2012, the Commission must conduct a review of the water infrastructure and sewerage infrastructure subject to the regime and form a view as to whether or not the access regime should continue from 30 June 2024 for a period of five years.
The Commission’s final report setting out the review’s conclusions and recommendations must be provided to the Minister for Environment and Water. The decision to continue operation of the access regime rests with the Minister.
Status
Current status is Initiate
- Initiate
- Submissions
- Draft
- Submissions
- Final
Initiate
The Commission has commenced its periodic five-year review into whether or not the third-party access regime that applies to the South Australian water industry should continue from 30 June 2024 for a period of five years.
The Commission has released an issues paper that outlines the scope of the five-year review and highlights key matters that the Commission intends to consider.
As part of the review, the Commission is also consulting on options to improve the access regime. The Commission engaged Sapere Research Group to prepare a background research paper for this purpose.
Submissions to the issues paper are due by Wednesday, 15 September 2023, and can be submitted electronically to [email protected].
The Commission will consider information provided by stakeholders in preparing a draft report. The draft report will contain a further call for submissions prior to the final report.
The issues paper and background research paper are available to view below.