Got my rego bill today, along with a flyer about the new general issue number plates:

From Vicroads: http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/ 

Important note: With the release of the new format motorcycle general issue plates from 22 October 2010, you have the option of changing your old format motorcycle general issue plate to the new plate at no cost. To do so, you must visit a VicRoads Customer Service Centre and be prepared to surrender your currently registered old format motorcycle plate upon change over. This offer does not apply for lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed motorcycle plates and owners who would already have the new format motorcycle general issue plate.

In the flyer it says:

Currently, motorcycle number plates may have the same character combinations as other vehicle types (such as cars with personalised plates) – this can cause confusion in the community.

General issue motorcycle plates will follow a new format – see the example below. This will avoid duplicating other states motorcycle number plate combinations.

Arseholes. How dumb do they think I am? What moron in a car can’t tell the difference between a motorcycle and a car? How can the f#$king number plates confuse the community?

All it confuses is the cash camera’s that were once only supposed to operate in accident blackspot area’s to make the roads safer (because getting a fine two weeks later slows you down). I guess they’re sick of having to look at the photo to work out if it was a car or a bike or what state the bike came from. My plate has VIC on it, it’s a Victorian plate. Other states have their own marking on them.

I’m a member of the community and I’m not confused by NSW, VIC, QLD, SA, WA, NT, ACT etc on a number plate, and I know the difference between a car and a bike FFS.

They must have sent one too many fines out to the wrong person because the automatic plate recognising is confused between bikes, cars, and interstate plates.

The new plate format:

• a standard font which clearly distinguishes between letters and numbers
• a diamond separator between the second and third characters
• they will start with a number, followed by a letter. The characters following the diamond separator will always be a number-letter-letter combination
• the number zero “0″ will not appear in any of the number positions

The cost of installing and plumbing up a rainwater tank vs. what is available in the form of rebates is a joke. The out of pocket charges are huge. The ‘Services Charges’ remain the same, and the drop in town supplied water charges is negligible.

The government offered a $2000 cash back grant for fitting an LGP system to a car. With some installations only costing $2500 it was only a $500 out of pocket expense. The price of LPG is a lot cheaper than petrol so there are some substantial on going savings to be made too.

Yet try and save water a ‘precious resource’ and there is no financial benefit to be gained, only extra expense.

The proportion of this bill that is water usage is less than 14%. If I went all out and cut my water usage by 50%, it would save me a whopping $17.16. That’s a lot of hard work to save $1.08 per week.

Is it realistic to be able to save 20% of my water consumption? It’ll take some effort, water saving shower roses, shorter showers, more limited use of the dishwasher, install a rainwater tank etc. But why? It’ll save me less than $2.00 / month. At $0.50c per week it’s going to take a long time to pay the water tank off. (Yes, I’m bad because I still have free flowing shower heads, but for $0.50c per week, why would I bother changing them?)

If I went to the other extreme and doubled my water consumption the financial penalty isn’t all that harsh. An extra $39.86 would make this bill a total of $307.16 with water usage making up for 25% of it.

Here’s the list of charges that make up my current bill:

Service Charges:
Sewer Service Availability Charge – Residential:$ 139.66
Water Service Availability Charge – Residential: $51.67
Annual Waterways Charge: $38.88

Water Usage (I used 40KL):
17.00KL @ $0.8335 $14.17
23.00KL @ $0.9966 $22.92
Total $37.09

A grand total of: $267.30

Hardly a user pays system and it’s not a fair system.

Why does the family of 6 people up the street pay the same ‘Sewer Service Availability Charge’ as I do? If they’re using more water and putting more down the sewer than I am, why aren’t they paying more for the disposal? More toilet flushes, more clothes washing, more showers etc. They’re adding more to the cost of running sewerage pumps, extra electrical and maintenance cost, and more water to be treated.

It’s not fair for Landlords (and no, I’m not a Landlord). A tenant only pays for water used, not for it’s disposal. Why not?

Why can’t the cost of disposal be incorporated into the cost of supply or if kept separate, be a $/KL supplied rate. If the regional average consumption is say 45KL per billing cycle why not charge $139.66 / 45KL = $3.10c / KL for sewage?

Something would have to be worked out for vacant blocks because there is still an extortion charge for having the service available. (Even though Electricity and Phone companies don’t charge a supply fee until you’re actually connected, the Water companies can still extort payment, and they wont disconnect a vacant block from the system either).

If I was paying $0.9966 / KL for water usage and $3.10 / KL for disposal, a total of $4.10KL I might seriously think about saving water as it will have a real impact on the bill and not a measly $0.50 / week.