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Four water retailers serving regional homes were forced to make last-minute pleas to borrow a combined extra $36.5 million last year to deal with floods and infrastructure blowouts.
The increases in borrowing limits, approved by Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas in June, were detailed in a ministerial briefing provided to the state opposition under freedom of information and obtained by The Age.
The government sets a cap on how much each corporation can borrow for the coming financial year each June to ensure the retailers are financially stable and can offer affordable prices.
But the document shows that four regional water companies – Wannon Water, Lower Murray Water, East Gippsland Water and Goulburn Valley Water – were so cash-strapped in 2022-23 they had to go back for permission to borrow more money, just as the financial year was coming to an end.
One of the corporations had its borrowing limit almost doubled in the final month of the last financial year, and two risked being unable to meet their obligations if they could not take on more debt.
The corporations all operated at a loss last financial year, but the Department of Treasury and Finance’s briefing notes said they all had capacity to service the borrowings.
Dr Erin O’Donnell, a senior lecturer in...