First Access Pricing Decision In Water And Wastewater Industry Made By ACCC

On 19 July 2007, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ("ACCC") issued an arbitration report on its determination of an access dispute between Services Sydney Pty Ltd and Sydney Water Corporation.

That dispute concerned the methodology by which the access price for declared sewage transportation services supplied by Sydney Water by means of North Head, Bondi and Malabar sewerage reticulation networks is to be determined.

This is the first access pricing decision in the water and wastewater industry in Australia.

The third party access regime

There has been much consideration of the role third party access might play in addressing Australia's water shortages and encouraging private sector participation in the delivery of water and wastewater services. Recently, there have been moves by some states towards establishing state-based, industry specific third party access regimes: for example, NSW has introduced the Water Industry Competition Act and the Economic