Tasmanian Bills Clause Notes Tasmanian Bills Clause Notes[Index] [Search] [Download] [Bill] [Help]
WATER AND SEWERAGE INDUSTRY (CONSEQUENTIAL AND
TRANSITIONAL) AMENDMENT BILL 2009
NOTES ON CLAUSES
Clause 1 Short title.
Clause 2 Fixes the date of commencement of the Act as being the
day on which it receives Royal Assent.
Clause 3 Refers to the Water and Sewerage Industry (Consequential
and Transitional) Act 2008 as the Principal Act.
Clause 4 Repeals section 2 of the principal Act and inserts a new
section 2.
Subclause (1) fixes the date of commencement of the
section as the day on which the Water and Sewerage
Industry (Consequential and Transitional) Amendment Bill
2009 commences.
Subclause (2) fixes the date of commencement of section 3
and Schedule on a day to be proclaimed.
Subclause (3) fixes the date of commencement of section 4
and Schedule 2 on a day to be proclaimed.
Subclause (4) fixes the date of commencement of section 5
on a day to be proclaimed.
Subclause (5) fixes the date of commencement of section 6
on a day to be proclaimed.
Clause 5 Repeals section 3 of the principal Act and inserts a new
section 3 to enable a provision of Schedule 1 to commence
on a day to be proclaimed.
Clause 6 Omits subsection (6) of section 5 of the Principal Act.
Clause 7 Inserts a new section 6 in the Principal Act to provide for
matters relating to charging in the transitional period, that
being the period up to the time that a regulated entity enters
into a customer contract with a customer.
The clauses will allow a council or bulk water authority to
issue a notice to collect and recover a volumetric charge
after a person becomes a customer of a regulated entity if
that charge was incurred prior to the person becoming a
customer of the regulated entity.
The clauses will also allow a regulated entity to continue
charging on the same basis that a customer was charged in
2008-09, in accordance with the provisions in the Local
Government Act 1993, until that regulated entity enters into a
customer contract with that customer.
Subsection (1) contains the following definitions applicable to
the section:
· local authority which is defined to have the meaning
given in the Sewers and Drains Act 1954;
· local government amendments which means the
amendments to the Local Government Act specified in
Schedule 1 of the Principal Act;
· relevant authority which is defined to mean a council,
or a bulk water authority within the meaning of the Water
and Sewerage Corporations Act 2008;
· sewers amendments which means the amendments to
the Sewers and Drains Act specified in Schedule 1 of the
Principal Act;
· trade effluent charge which means a charge, for
carrying off and disposing of trade effluent, that was fixed
and applied under Part X of the Sewers and Drains Act
prior to the amendments to that Act prescribed in
Schedule 1 taking effect;
· trade effluent service which is defined to mean a
regulated service for which a trade effluent charge could
have been imposed prior to the sewers amendments;
· transitional period, in relation to a customer of a
regulated entity for a regulated service, is defined as the
period commencing on the day on which the local
government amendments take effect to the day on which
the customer enters into a customer contract under
section 60(2) or section 61 of the Water and Sewerage
Industry Act 2008 or ceases to be a customer of the
entity;
· transitional service charge means an amount,
calculated by reference to sections 94 or 94A of the Local
Government Act for 2008-09, that a regulated entity may
charge a customer for the transitional period.
Section 94 of the Local Government Act allows a council
to make a separate service charge for a financial year, in
addition to or instead of making a service rate under
section 93 of the Act, for any or all of the services that the
council supplies or makes available.
Section 94A of the Act allows a council, when making a
general rate, to make a volumetric charge in respect of
the volume of water supplied; and
· transitional service rate means an amount, calculated
by reference to section 93 of the Local Government Act
for 2008-09, that a regulated entity may charge a
customer for the transitional period.
Section 93 of the Local Government Act allows a council to make a
service rate for a financial year on rateable land for certain
services, which includes water supply and sewage removal.
Subsection (2) states that, unless the contrary intention appears, or
the expression is defined in subsection (1), an expression in section
6 has the same meaning as in the Water and Sewerage Industry
Act.
Subsection (3) will allow a relevant authority to issue a notice to
collect and recover a volumetric charge for water that was incurred
prior to the date on which the amendments to the local government
will take effect, which is when the person becomes a customer of a
regulated entity and the power of a relevant authority to levy and
recover volumetric charges in accordance with the Local
Government Act will be removed.
Subsection (4) states that a local authority can recover, in
accordance with Part X of the Sewers and Drains Act, charges
incurred for carrying off and disposing of trade effluent up to the
date on which the sewers and drains amendments take effect.
Subsection (5) establishes the basis for a regulated entity to charge
and recover for regulated services provided in the transitional
period.
Subsection (6) states that the chargeable amount under subsection
(5) is equal to the total of the transitional service charge, if any, and
the relevant proportion of the transitional service rate, if any. The
subsection also states that the chargeable amount may be varied in
accordance with subsection (9).
Subsection (7) requires that a transitional service rate be
apportioned and charged on a daily basis.
Subsection (8) allows a regulated entity to continue to charge and
recover for carrying off and disposing of trade effluent on the same
basis as that provided in the Sewers and Drains Act, subject to any
variation in accordance with subsection (9), in the transitional
period.
Subsection (9) allows the chargeable amount, under subsections
(6) or (8), for a billing period to be varied in accordance with an
interim price order issued under the Water and Sewerage Industry
Act.
Subsection (10) restricts variations made under subsection (8) to
that portion of the billing period that arises after the making of an
interim price order.