Melbourne’s outer-west region is to be serviced by a new water provider with the integration of Western Water and City West Water.
The formation of the new entity, Greater Western Water, follows work by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), City West Water, Western Water and Melbourne Water to identify the best way to cater for population growth in the region and deliver high quality, affordable water services.
Minister for Water, Lisa Neville said more water infrastructure would be needed to serve the growing community in the outer-west and without intervention Western Water would see annual bills increased by up to $500 over the next 10 years.
“Integrating the two water corporations will mean current Western Water customers not only avoid these price rises, but by 2029 their annual bills will be on average $160 cheaper than they are today,” Ms Neville said.
“City West Water customers will also see savings of up to $110 on their annual bills compared to where they are now,” she said.
“The new entity will have the financial resources and staff to cope with the growth and demand for new water infrastructure in the region – supporting jobs and economic activity.”
Ms Neville said the integration would occur on 1 July next year and the transition would be overseen by a committee with an independent Chair and board members from both Western Water and City West Water.
The Minister said there would be no job losses and the Sunbury and Footscray office’s and all depots would be retained to keep jobs in Melbourne’s west.
She said Western Water and City West Water had approximately 580,000 customers combined, which was forecast to rise to over 690,000 by 2028.
