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Sydney

AU · Sydney Water

Grade A

Grade A — no material assumption — the figure may be sorted, ranked and compared. How the grade is set →

Cost of 1,000 litres

AUD 4.00

standardized household · 15 m³ a month

A month, water

AUD 59.97

AUD 720 a year

A month, with wastewater

AUD 122.79

wastewater 51% of the bill

How much of the bill is wastewater

New York 61%

Paris 57%

Sydney 51%

London 41%

Tokyo 41%

Hong Kong 37%

Singapore 34%

How much of the bill sits outside the volumetric rate

Perth 86%

Singapore 63%

Paris 57%

Seoul 42%

Dubai 25%

Sydney 17%

London 14%

Abu Dhabi 5%

New York 0%

Both comparisons are proportions, so they hold across currencies. The bills themselves do not, and are not compared.

Cost by volume

A household on 5,000 litres a month pays about 38% more per litre than one on 25,000, because the fixed charges spread over less water.

Where the water comes from

SurfaceDesalinationGroundwater

Greater Sydney draws chiefly on catchment storages managed by WaterNSW, with the Kurnell desalination plant and some groundwater. Shares withheld under Rule 9.5: no annual production mix with a year attached has been captured.

Sources, assumptions and data quality

ComparabilityGrade A

Tariff effective2026-07-01

ReconciledNot against an invoice

Reference connectionStandard metered residential service — the residential tariff carries no connection-size parameter. Sydney Water publishes one metered residential water service charge, A$26.65 a quarter, without differentiating by meter size; the unmetered charge is a separate and higher figure for a different customer.

ValidationSource verified ✓ · Calculation verified ✓ · Public reconciliation ✓

Publication · water supplyPublished

Publication · total water servicesPublished

ScopeReference account is a separately metered residential property. An unmetered property pays A

81.56 a quarter instead and is a different reference customer.

ScopeThe wastewater service charge is a fixed amount that Sydney Water states already contains a deemed amount for usage. Sydney's total water services figure therefore does not vary with the volume of water used, which is unusual in this Index and is the reason it is comparable at all — unlike Perth, where sewerage rests on a property valuation.

ScopeThe published rate is the non-drought rate. The drought rate applies while Greater Sydney storage sits below the 60/70 trigger, and the state has not been captured.

SourceSydney Water Corporation — Residential pricing, 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027

SourceCommonwealth of Australia — A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999, s 38-285 Water

SourceWaterNSW — Greater Sydney dam levels