Cost of Compliance Project

Victoria's water corporations are some of the most regulated entities in the state, with regulatory and compliance obligations back to multiple central agencies. This regulatory and compliance regime exists within a price-regulated environment, where the full cost of the regulatory and compliance regime is often not covered.

Additionally, the regulatory and compliance regimes of the various regulatory and policy agencies are not aligned with each other, and neither are they aligned with price determinations. This often results in new or modified regulatory or compliance obligations arising which are not included in current price paths, and which cannot be recovered via an adjustment in prices, or any other recovery processes.

VicWater and its members have a general concern that the current regulatory and compliance approach is not consistent with the original principles that were used to establish water corporations as statutory authorities.

In response, VicWater is proposing undertaking a project that looks at understanding the cost of compliance and regulatory obligations on the state's water corporations, and also at ways Government may be able to lessen, or streamline, what could be seen as unnecessary red tape placed on water corporations.