Public Exhibition: Non-residential sewer & trade waste charges 2021-22

At the March 2022 Ordinary Meeting, Council resolved to make changes to Council’s 2021-22 Revenue Policy as it relates to charging for non-residential sewerage and trade waste charges and to publicly exhibit the proposed changes. Changes to the 2021-22 Revenue Policy will be on public exhibition from 16 June 2022 until 5:00pm on Friday, 15 July 2022.

Council resolved to make the changes to the 2021-22 Revenue Policy as follows:

Sewer Charges – Non-Residential:

In accordance with Sections 501 and 502 of the Local Government Act 1993, it is proposed to levy a charge on all non-residential consumers connected to, or capable of being connected to, the Uralla or Bundarra sewer systems for sewerage services, that is the greater of:

i) A charge calculated according to Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, Liquid Trade Waste Management Guidelines – 2021

ii) A charge that is equal to the Sewerage Charges – Residential

Trade Waste Charges:

In accordance with Sections 501 and 502 of the Local Government Act 1993, it is proposed to levy a charge on all premises classified as dischargers of Liquid Trade Waste as per the Liquid Trade Waste Management Guidelines issued by the NSW Department of Planning Industry and Environment) that are connected to, or capable of being connected to, the Uralla or Bundarra sewer systems, according to Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, Liquid Trade Waste Management Guidelines – 2021.

Written submissions on the policy change can be made to the General Manager, Uralla Shire Council PO Box 106, Uralla NSW 2358 or by email to council@uralla.nsw.gov.au.

Submissions close 5:00pm on Friday, 15 July 2022 at 5:00pm.

Further to the resolution to change the 2021-22 Revenue Policy as set out above, Council resolved at the March 2022 Ordinary Meeting to:

2) Place the revised wording of the Revenue Policy in relation to non-residential sewer and trade waste charges on public exhibition for a minimum of 28 days and, subject to no major objections being received, adopt the revised wording to the Revenue Policy; and

3) Advise potentially effected businesses and individuals of council’s intent and the need under the NSW Governments Guidelines to apply for permission to discharge trade waste to the Council sewerage system.

4) Advise businesses or individuals of the standard discharge factor, from the Department of Water that council intends to apply to their business and provide them with an opportunity to apply options to ameliorate trade waste, and justify an alternate discharge factor

5) Following consideration of the applications and requests to modify, council apply these changes retrospectively to the Water and Sewerage Charges Notices issued in December 2021 and reissue those notices.

6) Develop a Trade Waste Policy based on the Model Policy for Discharge of Trade Waste to the Sewerage System.

Following public exhibition of the proposed changes at point 2 above, Council will action points 3-6.

Further, Council has adopted this amended wording in relation to non-residential sewerage and trade waste charges in its draft Operational Plan 2022-2023. The draft Operational Plan is currently on public exhibition with submissions open until 22 June 2022.

The current 2021-22 Revenue Policy in relation to non-residential sewerage and trade waste charges is written in full below, with proposed changes and further explanatory text.

Current Revenue Policy (2021-22) wording in relation to non-residential sewerage and trade waste charges:

Sewerage Charges – Non-Residential

In accordance with Sections 501 and 502 of the Local Government Act 1993, it is proposed to levy an access charge (70% of residential charge) plus a usage charge (per kilolitre) on all non-residential consumers connected to, or capable of being connected to, the Uralla or Bundarra sewer systems for sewerage services, as detailed in the table below:

Trade Waste Charges

In accordance with Sections 501 and 502 of the Local Government Act 1993, it is proposed to levy an annual charge plus a usage charge (per kilolitre) on all non-residential consumers connected to, or capable of being connected to, the Uralla sewer system for sewerage services, as detailed in the table below:

Proposed amended Revenue Policy (2021-22) wording in relation to non-residential sewerage and trade waste charges:

Sewerage Charges – Non-Residential

In accordance with Sections 501 and 502 of the Local Government Act 1993, it is proposed to levy a charge on all non-residential consumers connected to, or capable of being connected to, the Uralla or Bundarra sewer systems for sewerage services, that is the greater of:

i) A charge calculated according to Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, Liquid Trade Waste Management Guidelines – 2021

ii) A charge that is equal to the Sewerage Charges – Residential

Trade Waste Charges

In accordance with Sections 501 and 502 of the Local Government Act 1993, it is proposed to levy a charge on all premises classified as dischargers of Liquid Trade Waste as per the Liquid Trade Waste Management Guidelines issued by the NSW Department of Planning Industry and Environment) that are connected to, or capable of being connected to, the Uralla or Bundarra sewer systems, according to Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, Liquid Trade Waste Management Guidelines – 2021.

Explanatory Notes

The NSW Government has a best practice guide for non-metropolitan water and sewerage pricing which follows the same principles applied to metropolitan water authorities by the NSW Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART). The guidelines are based on a ‘user pays’ principle, meaning that the more a premises uses a water or wastewater service the more it should pay. Under these guidelines sewerage pricing for non-residential properties consists of a Sewerage charge AND (if applicable) a Trade Waste charge. Most regional water authorities have adopted the best practice pricing principles.

About non-residential sewer charges

All non-residential premises that are connected to Council’s sewerage system are liable to pay the non-residential Sewerage charges.

The Sewerage Charge consists of two-parts: an annual Sewer Access Charge + a Sewer Usage Charge which reflects the volume of wastewater discharged to sewer by that premises.

The annual Sewer Access Charge reflects the capacity of the premises to discharge wastewater. In accordance with Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, Liquid Trade Waste Management Guidelines – 2021, the bigger the size of the premises’ water connection the greater this capacity and so the greater the Access Charge. Based on these guidelines, the likely 2021/22 sewer access charges would be as follows:

The Sewer Usage Charge is calculated as the volume of wastewater discharged to sewer times a rate per thousand litres of wastewater. The volume of wastewater discharged to sewer is calculated as a proportion of the metered water usage of the premises. That proportion is called a “discharge factor”. For instance, an office would typically have a “discharge factor” of 90%. This means that 90% of all metered water use goes to the sewer. If say the office used 120 kilolitres of water per year then the estimated volume of wastewater is 108 kilolitres (=90% of 120kL metered water use). The Sewer Usage Charge would then be 108 kilolitres of wastewater at $1.50 per kilolitre = $162.00.

Different types of premises have different ‘discharge factors’ to reflect the proportion of metered water use. For instance the discharge factor for an office would be 90%, but the discharge factor for a garden nursery may only be 10% because most of the water used is to irrigate plants and little water goes to sewer. In this way those premises that put the most load on the sewer system also pay the most sewer charges, whereas premises that put little load on the sewer pay less.

About trade waste charges

Trade Waste charges only apply to premises that discharge higher ‘strength’ wastewater to the sewer (eg. restaurants, kitchens, etc). This charge is to pay for the extra treatment that higher ‘strength’ wastewater requires and the impact on the sewage transfer infrastructure. Only some non‑residential premises would be liable to pay Trade Waste charges because many non-residential premises (eg. offices) only discharge normal domestic strength wastewater and thus no Trade Waste charges apply. Many premises in Uralla that discharge trade waste are considered to be low risk and these premises would only be charged an annual Trade Waste Access charge. A few other premises that discharge dirtier (stronger) wastewater are also charged a Trade Waste Usage Charge.

The Trade Waste Charge consists of two parts: an annual Trade Waste Charge + (where applicable) a Trade Waste Usage Charge which reflects the volume of Trade Waste (i.e. higher strength wastewater) discharged to the sewer by that premises.

The Trade Waste Usage Charge (where applicable) is calculated as the volume of higher strength wastewater discharged to the sewer, times a rate per thousand litres. Again a ‘discharge factor’ is used reflecting the proportion of metered water use that is considered to be trade waste (higher strength wastewater). For example, a hotel would typically have a trade waste discharge factor of 25% meaning that 25% of water used goes to the sewer as higher strength wastewater. If the hotel used 800 kilolitres of water per year then the volume of trade waste is 200 kilolitres (25% of 800). The Trade Waste Usage Charge would then be 200 kilolitres at $1.47 per kilolitre = $294.00. Note that this charge for Trade Waste Usage would be in addition to the Sewer Usage Charge.

The discharge factor used for calculating Trade Waste usage is usually less than that used for sewer usage. The NSW Government has published a standard set of sewer and trade waste discharge factors for use in these calculations.

Minimum applicable charging

Under the NSW Government best practice guidelines the non‑residential premises is charged the greater of the results of the above calculation for sewer OR the annual residential sewer charge. Best practice pricing for non-residential sewer charges has been adopted by most councils in NSW and by metropolitan water authorities.

Section 8 of the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, Liquid Trade Waste Management Guidelines – 2021 has details of non-residential sewerage and liquid trade waste fees and charges. These guidelines are available at: https://www.industry.nsw.gov.au/water/water-utilities/regulatory-assessments/liquid-trade-waste