Proposed billing exception approval for Greater Western Water

In May 2024, Greater Western Water (GWW) launched a new billing system by merging two previous systems. This new system led to various billing issues, including GWW’s failure to issue some customers with quarterly bills.

The delays happened because the new billing system couldn't create bills automatically. GWW had to check the bills it created because of problems with moving the old information into the new system.

During this time, GWW still supplied water services to all customers. GWW advised most of the affected customers they have delayed bills. The billing issues caused stress and difficulty to many GWW customers.

The Essential Services Commission is investigating the problems caused by GWW's new billing system. Now, the commission is considering a plan that has two parts. First, the commission would approve a change to GWW’s quarterly billing cycle for a limited time. Second, the commission would accept a legal agreement where GWW agrees to $130 million in customer redress to compensate the impacted customers.

While GWW is still solving the billing issues, some customers will receive bills that are delayed, instead of every three months. Usually, water companies have to send bills every three months by law. The commission has shared the plan on the Engage Victoria website. People can give their opinions from 1 October to 22 October 2025.

The commission wants your feedback only on the proposed exception approval and how it might affect you. The commission is not asking for comments on the rest of the undertaking.

All relevant submissions will be considered before a final decision is made, likely to occur in late-October. The final decision will be published on the commission website.

How does this affect you?

The proposed exception approval includes three parts that could affect both past and current GWW customers:

1) Proposed exception approval for 2024 charges

The commission is considering the approval of a one-time exception. This exception would let GWW recover or retain 2024 charges from residential and small business customers who received delayed bills.

This only applies to charges where a bill has already been sent. If a customer didn’t get a bill for any 2024 charges, GWW would not be allowed to collect those charges under the proposed exception approval. These unpaid charges add up to about $75 million, which customers won’t have to pay.

This exception is being considered because some bills for 2024 were sent late. If the approval goes ahead, GWW will be able to recover or retain charges from bills issued outside the normal quarterly cycle, which usually isn’t allowed by the Water Industry Standard.

Additionally, customers who got a bill with 2024 charges more than seven months after their last bill will receive an $80 credit on their account. If they’re no longer GWW customers, they will be offered an $80 payment instead.

2) Proposed exception approval for 2025 and 2026 charges

The commission may allow GWW to send delayed bills to residential and small business customers from January 2025 to June 2026, if:

GWW doesn’t send a bill more than 12 months after the billing period ends, and

GWW follows rules about notifying customers and offering payment plans.

This is because GWW can’t bill some customers every three months right now due to problems with billing accuracy, but it is still providing water services to everyone.

The commission is considering this exception while GWW fixes its billing system to start billing all customers every three months again.

Customers who get a bill for charges between January 2025 and June 2026, with a delay of 4 to 12 months, will get a credit from $80 to $240 on their account, based on how long the delay was.

GWW is not allowed to send bills for charges more than 12 months after the billing period ends.

3) Proposed exception approval for large business customers

The commission may approve an exemption to quarterly billing cycles for large business customers’ 2024 charges. GWW must send any unpaid bills by 28 February 2026 and follow rules about telling customers about the amount owed and offering payment plans.

This is because GWW can’t bill some large business customers every three months because of billing problems, but it still provides water services to all of its customers.

The commission is considering this while GWW works to fix its system and get back to billing all customers every three months.

Redress in Undertaking

The commission is considering granting the proposed exception approval subject to GWW providing the following remediation. If the commission agrees to this proposed exception approval, then GWW must:

• Not send bills for 2024 charges that it hasn’t already billed for. This will clear about $75 million in unissued charges from customer accounts.
• Give an $80 credit to customers who got a late bill for 2024 charges if more than seven months passed between bills.
• Not send bills or try to collect charges that are more than 12 months old from when they happened.
• Give credits between $80 and $240 to customers who get late bills for charges from January 2025 to June 2026. The amount depends on how late the bill was.
• Give an $80 credit to about 70,000 customers who were affected when the direct debit payment option was stopped.
• Follow certain rules about how they communicate with customers and improve how they follow the rules.

Why this is happening

The commission wants to:

• promote the long-term interests of Victorian consumers in relation to the regulated water industry
• ensure that GWW stops conduct that breaches water industry rules
• promote GWW’s timely return to compliance with quarterly billing cycles
• provide redress for residential and small business customers of GWW who have been affected by the contravening conduct
• promote procedures within GWW that will detect and prevent any future breaches, and
• increase public awareness and promote compliance of the rules that water businesses must follow. 

How to participate

You may provide your feedback by:

making a submission via Engage Victoria; or

email your submission document/s to engage@esc.vic.gov.au; or

call us on 03 9032 1300 to discuss your options

If English is not your first language, please contact TIS National on 131 450 to make your submission using an interpreter.