Water and Sewerage Industry (Consequential and Transitional) Act 2008

Water and Sewerage Industry (Consequential and Transitional) Act 2008

An Act to amend certain Acts consequential on the enactment of the Water and Sewerage Corporations Act 2008 and the Water and Sewerage Industry Act 2008 and to enact transitional provisions consequential on the enactment of the Water and Sewerage Industry Act 2008

Be it enacted by His Excellency the Governor of Tasmania, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and House of Assembly, in Parliament assembled, as follows:

1.   Short title

This Act may be cited as the Water and Sewerage Industry (Consequential and Transitional) Act 2008 .

2.   Commencement

[Section 2 Substituted by No. 20 of 2009, s. 4, Applied:09 Jun 2009]

(1)  This section commences on the day on which the Water and Sewerage (Consequential and Transitional) Amendment Act 2009 commences.

(2)  Section 3 and Schedule 1 commence on a day to be proclaimed.

(3)  Section 4 and Schedule 2 commence on a day to be proclaimed.

(4)  Section 5 commences on a day to be proclaimed.

(5)  Section 6 commences on a day to be proclaimed.

3.   Consequential amendments

[Section 3 Substituted by No. 20 of 2009, s. 5, Applied:09 Jun 2009]

(1)  Schedule 1 has effect.

(2)  Where a provision of Schedule 1 inserts, amends, repeals, or substitutes, a provision of an Act, that provision of that Act is inserted, amended, repealed, or substituted, as specified in the provision of Schedule 1 , on the day on which the provision of Schedule 1 is proclaimed to take effect.

(3)  A proclamation under subsection (2) may be combined with a proclamation under section 2(2) .

4.   Legislation repealed

The legislation specified in Schedule 2 is repealed.

5.   Transitional provisions

(1)  Unless the contrary intention appears, an expression used in this section has the same meaning as it has in the Water and Sewerage Industry Act 2008 .

(2)  Where a licence under Part 6 of the Water Management Act 1999 is the subject of a transfer order published in the Gazette in accordance with section 41(1) of the Water and Sewerage Corporations Act 2008 , the licence is taken to –

(a) be a licence granted under the Water Management Act 1999 to the transferee referred to in the transfer order; and

(b) continue on the same terms and conditions as specified in the licence immediately before the day specified in the transfer order as the day on which the order takes effect, as if a reference in the licence to the transferor referred to in that order were a reference to the transferee referred to in that order.

(3)  Where an environment protection notice, within the meaning of the Environmental Management and Pollution Control Act 1994 , is the subject of a transfer order published in the Gazette in accordance with section 41(1) of the Water and Sewerage Corporations Act 2008 , the notice is taken to –

(a) be an environment protection notice served under the Environmental Management and Pollution Control Act 1994 on the transferee referred to in the transfer order; and

(b) continue on the same terms and conditions as specified in the notice immediately before the day specified in the transfer order as the day on which the order takes effect, as if a reference in the notice to the transferor referred to in that order were a reference to the transferee referred to in that order.

(4)  Where a permit is taken to have been granted under clause 3 of Schedule 6 to the Environmental Management and Pollution Control Act 1994 in respect of scheduled premises which –

(a) are under the control of the transferor referred to in the transfer order published in the Gazette in accordance with section 41(1) of the Water and Sewerage Corporations Act 2008 ; and

(b) are the subject of such an order –

the permit is taken to –

(c) be a permit granted under the Land Use Planning and Approvals Act 1993 in respect of scheduled premises which, by virtue of the transfer order, become under the control of the transferee; and

(d) continue on the same terms and conditions as specified in the permit.

(5)  Where a right to take water for domestic purposes has been granted by an undertaker under the Irrigation Clauses Act 1973 and that right is the subject of a transfer order published in the Gazette in accordance with section 41(1) of the Water and Sewerage Corporations Act 2008 , that right is taken to –

(a) be a right granted under the Irrigation Clauses Act 1973 to the transferee as specified in the transfer order; and

(b) continue on the same terms and conditions as specified in the right immediately prior to the day specified in the transfer order as the day on which that order takes effect, as if a reference in the right to the transferor referred to in that order were a reference to the transferee referred to in that order.

(6)  [Section 5 Subsection (6) omitted by No. 20 of 2009, s. 6, Applied:09 Jun 2009] .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  

6.   Transitional provisions – charging

[Section 6 Inserted by No. 20 of 2009, s. 7, Applied:09 Jun 2009]

(1)  In this section –

local authority means a local authority within the meaning of the Sewers and Drains Act 1954 ;

local government amendments means the amendments to the Local Government Act 1993 that are specified in Schedule 1 ;

relevant authority means –

(a) a council; or

(b) a bulk water authority, within the meaning of the Water and Sewerage Corporations Act 2008 , established as a joint authority under the Local Government Act 1993 ;

sewers amendments means the amendments to the Sewers and Drains Act 1954 that are specified in Schedule 1 ;

trade effluent charge means a charge, for the carrying off and disposal of deleterious effluents, that was fixed and that applied under Part X of the Sewers and Drains Act 1954 , as in force immediately before the sewers amendments took effect;

trade effluent service means a regulated service for which a trade effluent charge could have, but for the sewers amendments, been imposed;

transitional period, in relation to a customer of a regulated entity for a regulated service, means the period –

(a) beginning on the day on which the local government amendments take effect; and

(b) ending on the day on which the person –

(i) is taken under section 60(2) of the Water and Sewerage Industry Act 2008 to have entered into a customer contract in relation to the regulated service; or

(ii) enters into a contract under section 61 of the Water and Sewerage Industry Act 2008 in relation to the regulated service; or

(iii) ceases to be a customer of the entity;

transitional service charge, for a billing period in respect of a regulated service in relation to a customer of a regulated entity, means the amount, calculated by reference to the volumetric charge made under section 94A of the Local Government Act 1993 in respect of the regulated service for the 2008-2009 financial year, that the customer would have been liable to pay to a relevant authority for the regulated service for the billing period if –

(a) the local government amendments had not taken effect; and

(b) the amount of the volumetric charge had remained the same for the financial year in which the person is a customer of the regulated entity; and

(c) the customer had been a customer of the relevant authority at the time the charge was payable;

transitional service rate, in relation to a regulated service in respect of a customer of a regulated entity, means the amount of the service rate made under section 93 of the Local Government Act 1993 , or the service charge made under section 94 of that Act, in respect of the regulated service for the 2008-2009 financial year that the customer would have been liable to pay to a relevant authority for the regulated service if –

(a) the local government amendments had not taken effect; and

(b) the amount of the service rate or service charge had remained the same for the financial year in which the person is a customer of the regulated entity; and

(c) the customer had been a customer of the relevant authority at the time the rate or service charge was payable.

(2)  Unless the contrary intention appears or the expression is defined in subsection (1) , an expression used in this section has the same meaning as it has in the Water and Sewerage Industry Act 2008 .

(3)  If, but for the local government amendments, a relevant authority could have, under the Local Government Act 1993 , issued to a person a notice requiring the person to pay a volumetric charge for water supplied to the person during a period before the amendments take effect, then, despite the amendments –

(a) the relevant authority may issue the notice to the person under that Act; and

(b) the person is liable to pay to the relevant authority the charge specified in the notice, on the day specified in the notice as the day on which the person is liable to pay the charge; and

(c) the charge may be recovered under that Act –

as if the amendments had not taken effect.

(4)  Despite the sewers amendments and the local government amendments, if a person would have, but for the sewers amendments, been liable to pay to a local authority a trade effluent charge for services provided before those amendments take effect, then –

(a) on the day specified, in a notice given to the person by the local authority, as the day on which the person is liable to pay to the local authority the charge specified in the notice, the person is liable to pay the charge to the local authority; and

(b) the charge may be recovered in the same way as the charge could have been recovered if the sewers amendments and the local government amendments had not taken effect.

(5)  A customer of a regulated entity in respect of a regulated service –

(a) may be charged by the entity, for a billing period, within the transitional period in respect of the customer, that is specified in a notice given to the customer by the regulated entity, the chargeable amount specified in the notice; and

(b) is liable to pay to the entity the chargeable amount, or a part of the chargeable amount, on the day specified in the notice as the day on which the customer is liable to pay that amount or the part of the amount.

(6)  For the purposes of subsection (5) , the chargeable amount for a billing period in respect of a regulated service (other than a trade effluent service) in relation to a customer is the amount (as the chargeable amount is varied, if at all, under subsection (9) ) equal to the total of –

(a) the transitional service charge, if any, in relation to the service for the billing period; and

(b) the relevant proportion of the transitional service rate, if any, in relation to the service.

(7)  For the purposes of subsection (6)(b) , the relevant proportion of a transitional service rate for a billing period is, for each day within the billing period, the amount equivalent to 1/365th of the amount of the rate. 

(8)  For the purposes of subsection (5) , the chargeable amount for a billing period in respect of a regulated service that is a trade effluent service provided to a customer is the amount of the trade effluent charge that the customer would have been liable to pay for the billing period if the sewers amendments had not taken effect, as that chargeable amount is varied, if at all, under subsection (9) .

(9)  For the purposes of subsections (6) and (8) , if an interim order is made under section 88 of the Water and Sewerage Industry Act 2008 in relation to a regulated service, the chargeable amount for a billing period may be varied so as to reflect the charges that may be imposed on the customer in accordance with the interim order.

(10)  A chargeable amount may only be varied under subsection (9) in respect of so much of a billing period as arises after the making of the order pursuant to which the variation is made.

SCHEDULE 1 - Consequential Amendments

The amendments effected by Section 3 and this Schedule have been incorporated into the authorised version of the appropriate Acts.

SCHEDULE 2 - Legislation repealed

Section 4