Melbourne Water outcomes reporting

This page summarises Melbourne Water's outcomes, measures, and targets for the regulatory period 2021–26, and actual performance against these commitments since 2021-22.

More details are available on our outcomes reporting page.

What are outcomes?

Water businesses are accountable to their customers for delivering the outcomes set out in their price submissions, under our PREMO water pricing framework. Each business is required to report at least annually to its customers on:

• its performance against the specified measures and targets for each outcome
• an overall assessment of whether it has delivered on expectations for each outcome, including the business’s explanation for any performance shortfalls and how it intends to address them.

We have requested businesses also provide us with a summary outcome report document using a standard template. The self-assessments use a simple “traffic light” rating: 

• green = achieved target
• amber = mostly achieved target
• red = failed to achieve target.

Melbourne Water's self-assessment against outcomes in 2024-25

Outcome	Self-assessment
Access to safe and reliable water and sewerage services	Achieved target
Melbourne’s environment, rivers, creeks and bays are protected and Melbourne Water’s greenhouse gas emissions are minimised	Achieved target
Melbourne remains liveable as it deals with the impacts of climate change and population growth	Achieved target
Melburnians are empowered to support the design and delivery of service outcomes	Achieved target
Easy, respectful, responsive and transparent customer service	Failed to achieve target
Bills kept as low as possible	Achieved target
Overall	Mostly achieved target

Our observations on its 2024-25 performance

Melbourne Water met 16 of its 18 targets in the fourth year of its regulatory period. Melbourne Water reported that it did not meet its outcome 'Easy, respectful, responsive and transparent customer service' due to not meeting targets related to customer satisfaction with water and sewerage services.

It has adapted its methodology for measuring customer sentiment through surveys to better reflect the nature of its customer base. The new methodology was tested with its customer base prior to implementation. While it has fallen short of its targets under the new methodology, it has improved upon its performance compared to last year and has engaged with its customers to identify opportunities for further improvement.

It has also included its results under its old methodology, demonstrating its commitment to transparency. It reported its outcomes performance prominently on its website homepage, demonstrating ownership of its performance. As a bulk service provider, Melbourne Water is not part of our quarterly customer satisfaction survey.