FAQs

Small-scale retailers provide water and/or sewerage services through networks with 50,000 or fewer connections. There are 71 small-scale retailers in South Australia providing services to approximately 110,000 customers. 58 are local governments and 13 are private businesses. 

 Their size varies greatly. There are four with more than 5000 connections, the largest being Mount Barker District Council with close to 15,000 connections. Very small retailers can have fewer than 100 connections

Small-scale retailers provide:

• Drinking water retail services: water provided through a reticulated system that is intended for human consumption or for purposes connected with human consumption.
• Non-drinking water retail services: water other than drinking water provided through a reticulated system, including recycled water or stormwater.
• Sewerage retail services: the collection, storage, treatment or conveyance of sewage through a reticulated system, including Community Wastewater Management System (CWMS) services, where sewage is collected from septic tanks on individual properties.  

Customers of small-scale retailers are the owners of land to which a service is provided, and are billed for those services. 

If you are a customer of a small-scale retailer, you will either receive regular bills for water and/or sewerage services or be billed for those services as a component of your rates notice. 

The South Australian Government develops and implements, through legislation, public policy in relation to public health, the environment, water supply and demand planning, technical standards, safety and social welfare. 

The Commission and other regulators perform roles and functions assigned to them by the South Australian Government and Parliament under that policy and legislative framework.

The regulatory framework that the Commission applies to small-scale water and sewerage retailers has been in place since 2013. It consists of:  

• A licensing regime: In accordance with the Water Industry Act 2012, the Commission licences persons who provide retail services to South Australian consumers.
• Consumer protections: The Water Retail Code – Minor and Intermediate Retailers WRC-MIR/02 (the Code) sets out behavioural standards and minimum requirements that apply to small-scale retailers’ operations. 
• A price determination: The price determination aims to facilitate customers paying the prudent and efficient costs of service provision.  Retailers are responsible for setting their own prices, but must comply with National Water Initiative pricing principles. 
• Reporting requirements: Reporting requirements enable the monitoring of operational, service and financial performance
• A compliance and enforcement regime: The Commission uses a Verified Trust and Accountability approach to regulation of small-scale networks. 

SA Water is a major retailer, as the primary provider of drinking water and sewerage retail services to most South Australian customers. It is also regulated by the Commission and several other regulators, under a separate regulatory framework.

More information for customers of small-scale water retailers, and  SA Water customers, is available at https://www.escosa.sa.gov.au/consumers/water/consumer-water-information