The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal in Sydney has been told that private water retail competition is an inevitability.

 

Sydney Water’s chief financial officer told an Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPRT) inquiry that private companies already had access to waste water and plans were already being made for access to drinking water.

 

“We believe there is a high degree of probability of a new competitor emerging,” Mr Ramsey told the IPRT panel into the pricing of water from Sydney’s Kurnell desalination plant.

 

Mr Ramsey told the panel that past experience had show the likelihood of an emerging competitive private market for water.

 

Sydney Water, which has provided the bulk of water services to the Sydney area, has admitted that structural inefficiencies were beginning to emerge because of the company’s increasing size.