Greater Western Water has acknowledged failures with its new billing system that caused significant billing disruptions and multiple breaches of the Water Industry Standard, and has proposed an enforceable undertaking to provide redress to affected customers.
Failures included suspending quarterly billing for some customers, issuing incomplete or incorrect bills, failing to include required information on bills, and suspending direct debit without notice. Greater Western Water estimates the proposed redress package is valued at $130 million.
The proposed undertaking would require Greater Western Water to undertake specific remediation for residential and small business customers as well as compliance improvement activities. If the undertaking is accepted by the commission, Greater Western Water must:
- not recover charges for any unissued bills which cover usage periods in the calendar year 2024. This is estimated to clear $75 million in unbilled amounts from customer accounts
- provide an $80 credit to customers who have previously received a delayed bill for 2024 charges, if the delay period between bills was more than seven months
- not recover or issue a bill more than 12 months from the end of the quarter being billed
- provide a credit of between $80 and $240 to customers who receive a delayed bill for charges incurred for usage from January 2025 to June 2026, depending on how delayed the bill is
- provide an $80 credit to the approximately 70,000 customers who were affected by the suspension of its ‘direct debit in full’ payment option
- comply with specific customer communication requirements
- implement compliance improvement measures.
Before accepting any undertaking, the Essential Services Commission is consulting on part of the proposal that temporarily exempts Greater Western Water from issuing quarterly bills as it completes its ‘return to service plan’.
If the exemption is approved, Greater Western Water will temporarily be exempt from quarterly billing for residential and small business customers for:
- the 2024 charges already billed before 1 September 2025
- January to March 2025 charges, with bills sent within 12 months of that quarter, clearly listing the amount due and with a payment plan available
- April 2025 to June 2026 charges, with bills sent within 12 months of each quarter. If a bill is not sent within four months, customers must first receive an undercharging notice explaining the estimated amount based on previous average bill amounts from all customers, followed later by the bill with payment plan options.
For large business customers, Greater Western Water is also seeking an approval to be able to issue any outstanding 2024 bills by 28 February 2026, so long as charges are explained and payment plans offered.
In resolving this matter, the commission will be guided by:
- its statutory objectives in promoting the long-term interests of consumers
- the need for redress for affected customers impacted by billing issues
- the need for Greater Western Water to return to normal operations and maintain its financial viability
- the key objectives of the Water Industry Standard in aiming to reduce the risk of bill shock and ensure support for customers to manage regular payments
- that the commitments in the undertaking are deliverable and Greater Western Water is incentivised to fix its systems as soon as practicable.
Feedback in relation to the proposal to temporarily exempt Greater Western Water from issuing quarterly bills as it completes its ‘return to service plan’ can be submitted through Engage Victoria until 5pm, Wednesday 22 October 2025.
Quotes attributable to Essential Services Commission Chairperson and Commissioner, Gerard Brody
“We put Greater Western Water on notice back in September 2024 and set clear billing expectations. Unfortunately, billing issues have persisted, and customers have been left in limbo.”
“Our priority is securing redress for affected customers, while ensuring accountability and a clear path back to normal billing. Greater Western Water has estimated the redress at $130 million, which reflects the scale of the failures and the need to protect customers from bill shock.”
“It’s only right that customers affected by Greater Western Water’s billing issues have their say on the proposal to temporarily exempt it from the quarterly billing requirement while it fixes its billing issues. We welcome feedback from the community.”
Background
In May 2024, Greater Western Water launched a new billing system by merging two previous systems. This new system led to various billing issues, including failure to issue some customers with quarterly bills.
We set early expectations with Greater Western Water in September 2024, making it clear that it needed to treat delayed bills as undercharges and requiring that millions of dollars of bills also be written off as a result.
Greater Western Water continued to provide water and network services to all customers throughout the period it experienced disruptions to its billing system.
An independent review of Greater Western Water’s response to its billing system disruption has made 25 recommendations, which Greater Western Water has committed to action. These include improvements to governance, planning, capability and customer support. Greater Western Water’s ‘return to service plan’ will enable it to return all customers to normal billing cycles by June 2026.
Contact details:
Media enquiries: 0437 677 385 or [email protected]