TasWater customers should not be concerned on skyrocketing price increases once a freeze on prices is removed next year, Infrastructure Minister Michael Ferguson says.
Premier Peter Gutwein last year directed TasWater to freeze price increases for a second year in a row - this time due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The company is due to put out its next four-year price and service plan in June 2022.
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At a Legislative Council inquiry hearing on TasWater's operations on Tuesday, committee chairwoman Tania Rattray queried whether a removal of the price freeze would result in an annual increase that was higher than usual.
Mr Ferguson said the government last year had provided direct equity injections to the company and hadn't sought the annual dividends to which it was entitled.
"It has had the material effect of putting some downward pressure on the prices that would be paid by customers," he said.
Mr Ferguson said it would be up to the company and its board to decide what they would put in a submission on future pricing to the Tasmanian Economic Regulator.
"The government has had the company agree to a 3.5 per cent cap on increases," he said.
TasWater set up a capital delivery office for the planning, design, procurement phases of its $1.5 billion infrastructure program with the aim of cost-effective and timely delivery.
The Civil Contractors Federation of Tasmania has raised issues with the delivery of works through the office.
In a submission to the committee, it said the procedure was a failure and if urgent action was not taken, the state's civil construction sector would suffer considerable damage
Mr Ferguson said he had assumed the role as mediator between TasWater and the CCF and asked for real examples of problems in contracting work.
"CCF have done that ... and it provided the ability for a genuine conversation about the real issues and how they are perceived by individual contractors," he said.
"The early signs are pretty promising."
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Political reporter for Australian Community Media, based in Hobart.
Political reporter for Australian Community Media, based in Hobart.
