Melbourne Water is a statutory authority owned by the Victorian Government. We provide wholesale water and sewerage services to Melbourne's retail water businesses, and partner with councils and other organisations to deliver waterway and drainage services to the Greater Melbourne region.

We work on all parts of the water cycle that are essential to our way of life. We provide clean drinking water, treat sewage, manage floodplains, and keep Melbourne’s rivers, creeks and catchments healthy.

Melbourne Water is also the Catchment Management Authority (CMA) for the Port Phillip and Westernport region.

The following map shows the area we service:

In Victoria, prices for water, sewerage and other essential services must be approved by the Essential Services Commission, the independent regulator. To inform their decision, Melbourne Water is preparing the next Price Submission 2026. This will detail our proposed service standards, expenditure and prices for a period of five years between 2026-31.

Our Price Submission 2026 sets out the key customer outcomes we intend to deliver, and the investments we'll make to achieve them. It also includes how we’ll measure and report on our performance, so customers know we’re delivering on our commitments.

We'll continue delivering our Price Submission 2021 until 30 June 2026. For further details about our Price Submission 2021, visit Price Submission | Melbourne Water

The bill you receive from your water retailer helps fund the services we deliver. Your water bill is made up of the following charges:

• Water and Sewerage services and usage charges – These include both the retail costs of supplying water to you which are charged by your water retailer, as well as wholesale costs from Melbourne Water. These wholesale costs make up just over half the usage charges on your bill.
• Waterways and Drainage Charge – This charge is collected on behalf of Melbourne Water by your water retailer which funds activities outlined in our Waterways and Drainage Investment Plan. This includes protecting waterway health, manage drainage and flood protection. 
• Parks Charge – These charges collected by your water retailer on behalf of the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action and supports Melbourne’s parks, trails, public facilities and zoos, as well as the Royal Botanic Gardens and the Shrine of Remembrance. This charge does not fund waterways and drainage services or other water industry charges.

An example water bill can be seen below:

As the designated waterway and floodplain manager for Greater Melbourne and the surrounding region, Melbourne Water must also prepare a Waterways and Drainage Investment Plan. This supports the waterways and drainage elements of our Price Submission.

The Waterways and Drainage Investment Plan is a requirement of the Statement of Obligations issued by the Minister for Water, and details our responsibilities, goals, levels of service and programs of work for waterway management, flood management and drainage.

We're engaging a diverse range of our customers, stakeholders and community to inform our price submission. This will help ensure we're reflecting customer and community priorities on our work plans, service levels and customer outcomes.

We're engaging with:

• Community
• Households and businesses
• Retail water companies
• Direct service customers, including waterways and drainage customers
• Traditional Owners
• Local government
• Industry associations and community organisations.

We'll engage in a variety of ways including at deliberative panels, online, in face-to-face meetings and forums and via surveys.

The Essential Services Commission uses the PREMO water pricing framework to review prices submitted to them by Melbourne Water and other Victorian water businesses.

The PREMO framework focusses on five elements:

• Performance
• Risk
• Engagement
• Management
• Outcomes

We used this framework in our Price Submission 2021 to deliver deeper engagement with customers and community earlier in the submission process.

The PREMO framework will be used for Price Submission 2026 to deepen our understanding of our customers and their preferences.