Whether it is drinking water quality, equity of services, customer experience or climate change action, South Australian residents have an opportunity to tell SA Water what services are important to them, including how much they’re willing to pay for them.

The statewide water utility is preparing its investment plan for 2024-2028 and wants feedback on 15 initiatives for potential inclusion.

SA Water’s General Manager of Strategy, Engagement and Innovation Nicola Murphy said you can make your voice heard through an online survey, that aims to better understand your priorities and the value you place on various levels of service and investment, which have different bill impacts.

“As well as getting the essentials right for more than 1.7 million South Australians, there are new or expanded services we could invest in, such as helping residents to better manage water use or recycling more of the waste created in our construction activities,” she said.

“We strive to provide trusted water services, and to achieve this, customer feedback needs to be at the heart of all of our business decisions, so we’re asking you to tell us what matters to you.

“Through our comprehensive research and engagement program, we have already been talking to our customers and key stakeholders across the state at workshops, drop-in sessions and focus groups, as well as discussions online via our Water Talks website.

“To get involved in this next stage of the process, jump online and complete our ‘Would you invest in this?’ survey.”

Feedback from the survey will be used to develop a proposal which economic regulator, the Essential Services Commission of South Australia, will review and use to determine how much revenue SA Water can collect through customer charges.

“Please know up-front, the survey will take around 20 minutes – it’s not a quick ‘tick and flick’ and requires some careful thought about the services you would like to see us deliver in the future,” Ms Murphy said.

“We genuinely want to explore the trade-offs between reliability, quality and cost, which influence our capital and operating expenses, and the charges passed on through your water bills.”

Visit watertalks.sawater.com.au to respond.

The survey is open until 5pm on September 23, and respondents can also go in the draw to win a $100 voucher.