The Essential Services Commission of South Australia has stopped work on SA Water's 2028-32 price determination, leaving the A$5,330 million revenue cap for 2024-28 as the only settled one while the state prepares to bring the utility under a new SA Gas and Water Trust.
What stays in force
The Commission launched the 2028 process with a draft framework on November 10, 2025. The current determination runs to June 30, 2028. Its implied revenue cap is stated in December 2022 dollars and is a 21% increase for water and 30% for sewerage on the previous period. It also recovers A$1,387 million of capital expenditure required by government directions, which reaches customers outside the Commission's own prudency review.
What the Trust would change
Labor's March 2026 election policy proposed repealing SA Water's establishing Act and replacing its corporate structure with a Trust that would also hold the State Strategic Gas Reserve. The 2026-27 State Budget provides A$2 million over two years for planning and establishment, and the policy's timetable is legislation in 2026-27. In October 2026 InDaily reported that the Trust would also take in industrial water projects, including the A$5 billion Northern Water desalination project. The policy describes the Commission's future role only as "streamlined".
A leadership change at the same time
Chief executive David Ryan resigned in September 2026 and leaves on December 3, 2026. On October 23, 2026 the minister named David Reynolds as interim chief executive until the Trust's first chief executive is appointed. The change comes in the third year of a 2024-28 capital program set at A$3,602.0 million in inflation-adjusted terms.
How the reform sits against SA Water's resources, 27,653 km network, service results and major projects, and what to watch before July 2028, are covered in the full report. The full report, Water Systems Overview: SA Water, is available for USD 499. For a free overview, read the SA Water Utility Snapshot.