Over the duration of the inquiry, there have been complaints over the high costs of delivery to farmers through the state’s 13 irrigation schemes which supply more than 830 users.

There have been assertions that too much money is being spent by the organisation on corporate and administrative costs.

Tasmanian Irrigation chairwoman Samantha Hogg said corporate costs had been dropped by 37 per cent over the past two years and were forecast to drop further.

She said this was despite the delivery of water being increased. Ms Hogg said 25 per cent of the organisation’s budget was spent on operational costs and 75 per cent on project builds.

The schemes have the capacity to deliver 111,424 megalitres of water.

Last financial year, customers accessed 33,280 megalitres – half the amount accessed the year before.

She admitted the method of communication with the irrigating community was not strong enough and improvements were underway.

Tasmanian Irrigation chief executive Nicola Morris said water delivery costs carried a fixed cost and variable cost.

She said the fixed cost was different for all schemes – four had been increased, four had been stable, and the remaining five had decreased at different levels.

Ms Morris said the lowest fixed cost was attached to the Greater Forester scheme and the most expensive was the South-East scheme.

Ms Morris said variable costs could inflate depending on power and water costs.

She said Tasmanian Irrigation was able to negotiate down power price increases which were held within five to 10-per-cent for irrigators when increases of 43 per cent were anticipated.

This was the same case for increased water charges with price rises held at 13 per cent for most schemes when projections of up to 100 per cent more were expected.

Fifteen different representations have been made to the committee.