Proposed guideline on self-reporting non-compliance with the Water Industry Standards

On 1 April 2024, the Water Industry Standards introduced new obligations on water businesses relating to self-reporting of non-compliance with the Water Industry Standards. Under the self-reporting obligation a water business must report to the commission potential or actual non-compliances that may have a material adverse impact. 

To assist water businesses in meeting their reporting obligation, we have released a draft guideline, published under section 13 of the Essential Services Commission Act 2001. The guideline provides context and includes detail and examples of key terms from the reporting obligation in the Water Industry Standards. The key terms addressed in the guideline are: 

• potential and actual non-compliance
• material adverse impact 
• timeliness (of reporting)
• the requirement for reports to be in writing

This guideline does not create any additional obligations on water businesses or legally alter the obligations in the Water Industry Standards.

Along with the draft guideline, we have also released a draft reporting template. The template is designed to provide practical assistance to a water business for meeting its self-reporting obligation and to identify relevant information relating to the potential or actual non-compliance and the remediation it is undertaking. 

On 3 September 2024, we held a workshop with stakeholders from the water sector and sought feedback on the draft guideline and draft reporting template. 

We also sought submissions on the draft guideline and draft reporting template up until 10 September 2024. 

We will consider all stakeholder submissions and feedback and aim to release a final decision in October 2024. 

We received six submissions from Victorian water businesses, and one from Financial Counselling Victoria, which are available in the Resources Tab. 

Submissions were generally supportive of the draft reporting guideline and draft reporting template. 

We received six submissions from Victorian water businesses and one from Financial Counselling Victoria.