The review, initiated by the Queensland Government in September 2025, provides the opportunity for the utility to provide further assurance to its customers about the prudency and efficiency of its forecast capital and operating expenditure.
Unitywater CEO, Anna Jackson, said the submission outlines a transparent, evidence-based assessment of forecast prices, revenue, expenditure and service outcomes.
“Our submission demonstrates how our proposed prices balance customer affordability and service performance, with enabling generational growth across our service region of Moreton Bay, the Sunshine Coast and Noosa,” Ms Jackson said.
“We’re continuing to take a long-term view, ensuring our customers of today receive safe, reliable and sustainable water and wastewater services, while also planning sustainably for our customers of tomorrow.
“Over the next three years alone, we will invest more than $1.6 billion in water and wastewater infrastructure, with 70% of this investment supporting growth, to enable more than 215,000 new homes and welcome more than 540,000 additional people to our service region by 2046.”
The submission highlights how Unitywater’s forecast prices continue to reflect the lowest sustainable customer pricing, with an average 2.8%* annual increase to median residential bills over the four years to 2029-2030.
“Unitywater bills cover the costs of operating, maintaining and growing networks and treatment plants, and the assurance of 24/7 teams to maintain and respond to keep quality water and wastewater services going across our supply region, which stretches from Everton Hills to Eumundi,” Ms Jackson said.
“We also collect the State Government bulk water charge, which is always passed directly through to customers without margin and must be shown that way on bills.
“In response to a State Government request, we matched their two-year freeze on bulk water pricing with a freeze of our water distribution charges for 2026-27 and 2027-28 as well, with price changes during this period relating to wastewater services only.”
Ms Jackson said Unitywater’s combined water and wastewater operating expenditure per connection (excluding bulk water) was 30% lower than the national median, and its operating costs per property were now 11.2% lower in real terms than in 2013-2014.
“This is a result of our commitment to innovation, trialling and implementing new technologies, finding better project solutions and driving efficiencies across our organisation,” she said.
“Customer expectations underpin our investment decisions, with more than 90% of customers supporting ongoing investment to maintain infrastructure to current service levels, and 93% preferring a proactive approach to delivering infrastructure for growth.
“In our submission we have highlighted our ongoing focus on delivering safe, reliable and sustainable services for our customers – which has seen us achieve water and wastewater main break rates that are the lowest of all major utilities around Australia,” she said.
Ms Jackson said the QCA’s preliminary findings of Unitywater’s first submission, made in December 2025, demonstrated the utility’s strong focus on customer affordability, transparent forecasting, and mature governance and planning frameworks.
“These positive findings provide a strong foundation as we progress our Part 2 submission, which will further demonstrate the efficiency and prudency of our operations and investment plans,” she said.
“The QCA also found that, from 2014–15 to 2025–26, the typical Unitywater component of a residential bill only increased by 1.7% a year on a compound basis – well below CPI, which averaged 3.2% over the same period.
“We are confident our submission demonstrates a disciplined approach to price setting and investment that balances customer affordability, service reliability and long-term financial sustainability.”
Unitywater’s part 1 and part 2 submissions, details about the price monitoring review process and information about how Unitywater set prices are available on Unitywater’s website: www.unitywater.com/qca-price-monitoring.
