Author: Brian Ashworth April 6, 2015

I hear a lot of complaints about Water Bills . . . . . but Town Water is one of the ‘Great Bargains’ of our age!

Don’t Believe Me?

Well lets look at the facts.

Typical Water Charges

Well I live in Melbourne’s City West Water area so my  water charges are:

Water Service Charge

$54.65/quarter. This is to cover things like the maintenance of the thousands of km’s of pipes that  are ready to deliver the water to you.

Water Usage Charge

To encourage people to be responsible in the water usage the cost/kilolitre rises at 440 litres per day and again at 880 litres per day. (The average Melbournian uses 160 litres per day, but my wife and I are careful and only use around 100 litres each per day)

• $2.3060 per kilolitre for the first 440 litres of water used per day.
• $2.7241 per kilolitre for water usage above 440 and up to 880 litres per day.
• $4.0749 per kilolitre for water usage above 880 litres per day.

Cost For A Family

Well the daily cost for an average family of 4 using 640 litres per day is:

1st  440 litres  $1.01

2nd 200 litres $0.54

Service Charge $0.60

Total $2.15 /day     (Equivalent to $3.36/kilolitre)

Remember this is for a product that has been; Collected, Stored(for up to 4 years), Treated, and Delivered to your tap exactly when you want it.

Some Comparisons

You may not be familiar with what a kilolitre really means but here are  3 equivalents.

1. It weighs one tonne.
2. It is equivalent to a cube 1m x 1m x 1m.
3. Just over 4 large wheelie bins.
4. 2,000 x 500ml bottles

Comparison With Any Other Product

If you can find any other product that you can have delivered to your door for $3.36/ tonne let me know . . . even dirt costs around $60/tonne.

Comparison with Bottled Water

Well the cheapest I could find bottled water was in my local Costco, where it worked out at $500/kilolitre!

Comparison with Beer

One days water supply = the cost of 1 stubby.

 

Still think Town Water is expensive? . . . . Then leave a comment!