Easing the pressure on households
By NSW Premier Mike Baird @MikeBairdMP
We want to make sure that all government agencies like Sydney Water are operating more efficiently which ensures that savings are passed on to customers.
We know that cost of living is an added pressure to families and households and we want to do all we can to deliver relief where possible.
But while it is important to ensure households are saving money, we are also investing more than $705 million over the next financial year to maintain and upgrade infrastructure across Sydney’s water and wastewater network and ensure that our state’s water continues to be some of the most reliable drinking water in the world.
NSW is in a strong economic position and we are able to make these changes as Sydney Water over the last four years has implemented efficiencies that mean customers are getting value for money, while not compromising on service.
Sydney Water is a state-owned organisation, and so if the business is doing well then it is you the customers who should benefit.
That is why we will continue to improve our services and ensuring that not only are our savings passed on, but also that the way we engage with the customer is continually improving.
The NSW Government is doing everything it can to ease the cost of living and one of the ways we can do this is ensuring our state-owned corporations are well-managed and also by boosting competition, as we are doing with the electricity sector.
For example, since we announced the removal of retail price regulation, more than 200,000 electricity customers have found themselves a better offer by shopping around.
In other money-saving news we are reducing Opal fares for job seekers to help out those who are looking for work.
Eligible job seekers can now apply for a Concession Opal Card which will help them move around Sydney without hurting their hip pocket.
For the first time job hunters can enjoy all of the benefits of Opal including a 50 per cent discount on the cheaper Opal adult fares, free trips after eight paid journeys, plus daily fare caps of $7.50 Monday to Saturday and only $2.50 on Sundays.
We have also unveiled an upgrade to the transportnsw.info website which means that customers can now plan a trip to and from regional NSW from their phone or desktop to anywhere in NSW, as well as interstate to and from Brisbane, Melbourne and Canberra.
And all our travellers can now benefit from our new modern customer service centre at Central Station which means timetables and information can be seen at a glance of our new 11 metre long digital information board made up of 20 individual screens. The upgrade also now provides a customer kiosk will be able to deliver tourist information, Opal card top-ups and it includes a new mobile device recharge station.