EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Cocos (Keeling) Islands Act 1955
Utilities and Services Ordinance 1996

Determination of Fees for Water and Sewerage Services No.1 of 2008

Section 3 of the Utilities and Services Ordinance 1996 (the Ordinance) authorises the Administrator to make provision for the supply and use of utilities and services in relation to, amongst other things, water and drainage and sewerage in the Territory.  Section 4 of the Ordinance provides that the Administrator is to impose a fee for the provision to a person, or the use by a person, of such utilities and services.  
The Determination of Fees for Water and Sewerage Services No.1 of 2008 (the Determination) sets the fees for water and wastewater charges on Cocos (Keeling) Islands and replaces the Determination of Fees for Water and Sewerage Services No.1 of 2007.
It is Government policy that there should be parity between the prices in the Territory and those in Western Australia wherever possible.  The fees set in the Determination are substantially the same as those which apply in Western Australia and are considerably less than the cost of supply.  Accordingly, consultation on the fees was not undertaken.  

The Determination commences on 1 July 2008.

Approximate rates of increase in the various fees from the previous year are described below:

FIXED CHARGES FOR WATER

		2007/08
$ pa	2008/09
$ pa	Increase
%	
1.	Residential 	162.60	180.50	11.0	
2.	Commercial, Commercial / Residential, Industrial, Mining, Shipping, Government State,  Commonwealth or Local — 				
	15 or 20mm meter or un-metered (minimum)	544.50	500.30	-8.1	
	25mm	850.80	781.70	-8.1	
	30mm	1 225.00	1 126.00	-8.1	
	35, 38, or 40mm	2 178.00	2 001.00	-8.1	
	50mm	3 403.00	3 127.00	-8.1	
	70, 75, or 80mm	8 712.00	8 005.00	-8.1	
	100mm	13 613.00	12 507.00	-8.1	
	140 or 150mm	30 628.00	28 142.00	-8.1	
3.	Institutional/Public, Charitable 	Nil	Nil	0.0	
4.	Vacant land	162.60	180.50	11.0	
5.	Fire service	162.60	180.50	11.0	
6.	Strata titled Commercial or Industrial property sharing a water service	162.60	180.50	11.0	

FIXED CHARGES FOR SEWERAGE

		2007/08	2008/09	Increase	
1.	Residential				
	Rate in the dollar	3.4651¢ per $ of GRV	3.562¢ per $ of GRV	3.4%*	
	Minimum annual charge	$266.80	$275.90	3.4%	
	Maximum annual charge	$664.90	$687.50	3.4%	
2.	Commercial/Industrial 	587.90	607.90	3.4	
	Rate in the dollar	2.620¢ per $ of GRV	2.625¢ per $ of GRV	3.4%*	
	Minimum annual charge	$587.50	$607.90	3.4%	
3.	Vacant Land				
	Annual charge	$175.60	$181.60	3.4%	
4.	Institutional/Public and Charitable Purposes				
	First major fixture	$157.90	$163.30	3.4%	
	Each additional major fixture	$69.45	$71.80	3.4%	
5.	Government				
	Per connection	$877.80	$907.65	3.4%	
* Increase in GRV based charges from one year to the next limited to 13.6%

WATER CONSUMPTION CHARGES

		2007/08
¢/kL	2008/09
¢/kL	Increase
%	
1.	Residential or Vacant Land held for residential purposes				
	0 – 150kL	56.9	64.3	13.0	
	151 – 500kL	78.4	82.8	5.6	
	501 – 550kL	104.3	98.4	-5.7	
	551 – 650kL	116.0	108.5	-6.5	
	651 – 750kL	190.3	173.2	-9.0	
	751 – 1 150kL	326.8	292.7	-10.4	
	1 151 – 1 550kL	531.0	513.4	-3.3	
	1 551 – 1 950kL	621.7	592.4	-4.7	
	Over 1 1950kL	712.2	671.2	-5.8	
2.	Commercial, Industrial, Government,  Charitable Organisation or Institutional/Public				
	0 – 300kL	164.3	226.8	38.0	
	Over 300kL	314.1	335.3	6.7	

BUILDING APPLICATION FEES

These fees are unchanged from 2007/08.

OTHER FEES

		2007/08	2008/09	Increase	
1.	Relocation of service	Actual/quoted cost	Actual/quoted cost	N/A	
2.	Water service disconnection or reconnection	Actual/quoted cost	Actual/quoted cost	N/A	
3.	Special meter readings for change of ownership/tenancy				
	Within 7 days	$13.25	$13.70	3.4%	
	Within 2 days	$44.65	$46.15	3.4%	
4.	Advice of sale requests				
	Electronic advice – standard	$35.20	$36.40	3.4%	
	Electronic advice – urgent	$66.50	$68.75	3.4%	
	Manual advice – standard	$60.50	$62.55	3.4%	
	Manual advice – urgent	$91.50	$94.60	3.4%	
5.	Meter tests				
	20mm – 25mm meters	$85.00	$88.00	3.5%	
	Over 25mm meters	Actual/quoted cost	Actual/quoted cost	N/A	
6.	Restoration of service after restriction 				
	Between 7:00am and 4:00pm any day except Saturday, Sunday and Public Holidays	$114.00	$118.00	3.5%	
	At any other time	$181.00	$187.00	3.3%	
7.	Sewer connection charge	Actual/quoted cost	Actual/quoted cost	N/A	
8.	Installation of sewer junction	Actual/quoted cost	Actual/quoted cost	N/A