COUNTRY Victorians should brace themselves for additional water price pain after more than half the water authorities outside Melbourne posted losses of almost $80 million in the past financial year.
In the week the Auditor-General found 10 of the 15 non-metropolitan water companies had "immediate sustainability issues with insufficient current assets" to cover liabilities, further investigation revealed the full extent of the losses, prompting fears of big price rises, the Sunday Herald Sun reports.
The biggest loser was Goulburn Murray Water, which dropped $34 million, followed by Coliban Water, down $30 million.
The other authorities in deficit last year were Northeast Water, Lower Murray Water, Southern Rural Water, South Gippsland Water, Wannon Region Water Corporation and Central Highlands Water.
Coliban Water, which covers Bendigo, Echuca and Kyneton, has signalled it intends to ask the Essential Services Commission, which regulates water prices, to increase the costs to consumers.
Read more at the Sunday Herald Sun
