Tim is the founder and Executive Director of Utilities Regulation Advisory (URA), Australia’s only firm specialising in the economic regulation of monopoly network services. Tim has 20 years of experience providing strategic regulatory advice to network businesses (both public and private sector), economic regulators and governments around Australia and overseas.
Prior to establishing URA, Tim was the Director in charge of KPMG’s national water regulation practice, as well as KPMG lead to the Victorian water sector.
During his career, Tim has:
– advised regulators on reforming economic regulation to deliver better customer value;
– advised on the planning, development, review and defence of regulatory submissions;
– performed independent reviews of regulatory proposals (i.e. capex, opex, demand etc.)
– provided economic and commercial analysis of options;
– developed and implemented successful customer engagement strategies; and
– worked within and advised government on major policy reform initiatives.
Highlighted Experience
Tim has led advice to a number of regulators regarding the establishment of best practice price regulation frameworks, including the Victorian PREMO framework, the new South Wales 3Cs framework, the Queensland Government’s bulk water pricing arrangements, the New Zealand Commerce Commission’s regulatory framework for Watercare, the Australian Energy Regulator’s Consumer Challenge Panel and Value of Customer Reliability and a review of future regulatory reform opportunities across South-East Queensland.
Tim has provided leading regulatory advice for the last 24 years to utilities across Australia in the lodgement of their pricing submissions, including:
- Victoria – Melbourne Water, Yarra Valley Water, Greater Western Water, South East Water, Barwon Water, Gippsland Water, Lower Murray Water, Coliban Water, Central Highlands Water, North East Water, Goulburn Murray Water, Westernport Water, East Gippsland Water, South Gippsland Water, Wannon Water, United Energy, AusNet
- New South Wales – Sydney Water, Hunter Water, Sydney Desalination Plant, WaterNSW
- Queesnland -Seqwater, Sunwater, Ergon Energy
- South Australia – SA Water
- Tasmania – TasWater
- Western Australia – ATCO Gas Australia
Tim has led teams that have completed independent expenditure/demand reviews for economic regulators (i.e. the Essential Services Commission (Victoria), the Queensland Competition Authority, the Office of the Tasmanian Economic Regulator) and completed reviews/developed forecasts for regulated utilities (e.g. Melbourne Water, South East Water, Yarra Valley Water, Seqwater, SA Water, Goulburn Murray Water, Gippsland Water, Coliban Water) prior to lodging their submissions for regulatory review.
Tim has led the design, development, testing and implementation of new tariff structure, including for water (Barwon Water), wastewater (Townsville City Council), trade waste (TasWater, East Gippsland Water), developer charges (Greater Western Water, Gippsland Water, Coliban Water, Central Highlands Water, Westernport Water, Goulburn Valley Water) and irrigation services (Goulburn Murray Water, Sunwater).
Tim has led the design and/or review of regulatory pricing models, including for Sunwater, Yarra Valley Water, Barwon Water, Essential Energy, ATCO Gas Australia, East Gippsland Water, Westernport Water, Townsville City Council, Goulburn Valley Water and Goulburn Murray Water.
Tim has led a number of reviews of options for optimising asset use or driving better commercial outcomes, including for Melbourne Water, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, the Department of Treasury and Finance, (the former) City West Water, South East Water and Yarra Valley Water.
Tim has led advice to Governments with regards to the appropriate structure for the provision of water services, including the role of private sector service provision.
Tim has advised asset owners (buyers) during the sale (purchase) of publicly owned monopoly assets through the provision of regulatory due diligence advice (e.g. the sale of Transgrid in NSW).
Tim has presented on leading regulatory issues at a number of conferences and industry events, including:
- 2026 – Queensland Water Directorate Annual Conference (The Urgent Drop – The Case for Change)
- 2024 – VicWater Directors Forum (The Ticking Timebomb – water pricing)
- 2023 – Australian Water Associate Victorian Water Technical Event – 2023 Wrapped: Water in a time of uncertainty.
- 2023 – VicWater Annual Conference Capital Projects Challenge Panel
- 2022 – Australian Water Association Queensland Conference Interjurisdictional Review of Best Practice Water Price Regulation
- 2021 – VicWater Annual Conference Business Performance and Improvement
- 2021 – Institute of Water Administration Insights From Pricing Submission Preparations – Cursory Tales and Critical Opportunities)
- 2019 – OzWater Lessons learned from the Application of the PREMO framework
- 2017 – OzWater Customer Centric Regulatory Design – The Development of PREMO
Tim has also written a number of articles on issues of importance to the water sector, including:
- 2026 – Data Centres are changing the water sector. Is regulation keeping up?
- 2026 – Is AI about to become a standard assumption in economic regulation?
- 2026 – South Australia’s Infrastructure Reset: Water, Gas and Growth under one roof
- 2026 – NZ Commerce Commission – Emerging Views Paper
- 2026 – Economic Regulation is becoming a test of credibility, not just efficiency
- 2025 – Pricing Pressures at WaterNSW
- 2024 – The changing tides in UK water price regulation
- 2021 – Pricing Connection for Victorian Developers
- 2019 – Pricing for Digital Water Metering
- 2019 – Water Price Regulation – Lessons from the UK