The water bills have been issued under a two-part tariff system approach, aligning the city with best practice and State Government requirements.

It consists of a charge for access to the city’s water network and a fee for each kilolitre of water used by the ratepayer.

This allows ratepayers to have more control over their water charges based on their water usage.

The current system aims to fairly allocate the costs of maintaining the city’s water network and funding the planned $10.7 million payable to the Mount Isa Water Board and Sunwater each year.

Council recommends regular checks on meters to ensure that there are no concealed leaks.

This is the simple process of turning all internal and external taps off and checking to see if the meter is running.

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CEO Sharon Ibardolaza said the changes brought Mount Isa into line with State Government requirements that had already been introduced in the majority of cities and towns across Queensland covering more than 90 per cent of the state’s population.

“Council recognises that for some ratepayers, there will be increased costs, but there is also the opportunity to save future water charges by reducing water usage and adopting long term water saving habits,” Ms Ibardolaza said.

Overall, residential ratepayers will be paying at least $350k less for water for the December 2018 half-year than in the corresponding period in the prior year.

Ms Ibardolaza said meetings will occur over the coming days with key user groups to address any issues and concerns.

“Council are committed to exploring further options to improve the system and the costs of water in our community and we’ll continue to consult with the community over the next several months to achieve an even fairer water charging methodology.”

READ ALSO: Community confronts council over new water charging system

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