In setting up the new-fangled bulk water prices, the New South Wales pricing committee said that it has focused more and has paid attention to the farmers. For the high-security Murray irrigators, the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) have agreed to hike the prices by 9%.

On the other hand, for the high-security irrigators on the Murrumbidgee, the rise has been set to 2%. These figures will be valid for the coming four years. For the general security consumers on the Murrumbidgee, the bills will be declining by 4%.

IPART's Jim Cox justified the rising prices by saying that the water resources, on the other hand, are also falling, which will compensate on the augmenting charges that are blamed to affect the consumers.

He added, "We understand that our decisions will result in considerable price increases for some customers in some valleys. However, these increases are required to fund the users' share of the independently-assessed efficient costs of State Water supplying regulated bulk water services".

He also explained the causes for the higher prices in the current determination, as a lower level of the predicted water sales than in the last determination.