Water Industry Competition Act 2006

If a declared failure occurs, the Minister may, on the application of the last resort provider and subject to the regulations—

direct IPART to assess the reasonable costs and expenses of the last resort provider, as known or reasonably able to be estimated at the date of the application, arising from—

dealing with or remedying an act or omission of the failed licensee or the condition of the essential infrastructure, or

providing the essential service as a last resort provider, and

provide, by order published in the Gazette, for a cost recovery scheme as set out in this section or as otherwise prescribed by the regulations.

More than one application may be made under this section and a cost recovery scheme may be provided for progressively during and after the declared failure.

Subject to the regulations, a cost recovery scheme may provide as follows—

for the recovery of the whole or a part of the amount assessed from the failed licensee or a related corporation of the failed licensee,

in circumstances in which it is unlikely the whole of the amount assessed is able to be recovered from the failed licensee or a related corporation of the failed licensee—

for the recovery of outstanding amounts through an industry contribution scheme, or

with the consent of the Treasurer, for the payment of outstanding amounts from the Consolidated Fund.

If a cost recovery scheme provides for the recovery of an amount from a person, the amount may be recovered in a court of competent jurisdiction as a debt owed to the Crown according to the terms of the scheme.

If a cost recovery scheme provides for an industry contribution scheme, the following provisions apply, subject to the regulations—

the scheme may provide for the Minister to require, as the Minister considers just and reasonable in the circumstances, contributions to be made to IPART, for payment to the last resort provider, by licensees, the owner of the essential infrastructure or a public water utility,

the Minister must—

give written notice of the proposed scheme to each proposed contributor specifying how the contributors have been selected and the amount of the contributions calculated, and

allow the proposed contributors at least 28 days within which to make submissions to the Minister about the proposed scheme,

contributions are to be imposed by written notice to the contributor,

if IPART determines a maximum price for a water or sewerage service provided by a public water utility required to make a contribution—the requirement to make the contribution is to be treated for the purposes of the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal Act 1992, section 16A as a requirement with which the utility must comply in providing the service.

If a cost recovery scheme provides for the payment of an amount from the Consolidated Fund, the Consolidated Fund is appropriated to the extent necessary to pay the amount concerned and the amount paid from the Consolidated Fund may be recovered from the failed licensee or a related corporation of the failed licensee by the Minister as a debt for payment into the Consolidated Fund.

In this section—