HOUSEHOLDS will be slugged with a sharp jump in water bills starting this month. The Essential Services Commission ruled retailer South East Water can increase prices by 22.8 per cent from 1 July. The retailer services bayside suburbs from St Kilda to Frankston, the Mornington Peninsula, parts of the southeast and eastern Gippsland. The independent regulator decided metropolitan water prices could rise by an average of 22.4 per cent, plus inflation, with the majority of the increase required to recoup the construction of Victoria’s $5.7 billion desalination plant near Wonthaggi built by the Brumby Labor government and Melbourne Water. The…
Monday, December 23
