Proposed billing exception approval for Greater Western Water

Overview

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

Following an investigation by the Essential Services Commission, Greater Western Water offered the commission an enforceable undertaking and sought four time-limited exceptions to the requirement that bills be issued quarterly.

Between 1 October 2025 and 22 October 2025, the commission consulted publicly on the proposed exception approvals. 

Consultation process

Between 1 October and 22 October 2025, the commission sought feedback on the proposed exception approvals through its website and the Engage Victoria website.

The purpose of the consultation was to gather feedback from the public and stakeholders to better understand the potential impact of the exception approvals sought by Greater Western Water.

The commission received 788 submissions throughout the consultation period – including 775 submissions via Engage Victoria.

The commission completed a review of all submissions. Several submissions included comments that touched on one or more themes. This stakeholder feedback helped to inform the commission’s decision regarding whether to accept the exception approvals.

Final decision

The commission has approved four time-limited exceptions to quarterly billing for Greater Western Water. This approval recognises that Greater Western Water must continue investing in critical water services and infrastructure while addressing the technical constraints of its billing system.

Greater Western Water can send delayed bills to residential and small business customers for January 2024 to June 2026 charges on the following conditions:

• 2024 charges were sent before 1 September 2025.
• January to March 2025 charges are sent within 12 months of that billing period, list the amount due and offer payment plans.
• April 2025 to June 2026 charges are sent within 12 months of that billing period, list the amount due and offer payment plans. If it is not sent within four months, customers must be given an estimate of their bill.

The commission adopted consumer feedback from the consultation and added several new conditions to the exemption.

The commission has also accepted a court enforceable undertaking from Greater Western Water.  The undertaking contains a customer redress package valued at $130 million and requires Greater Western Water to carry out a compliance improvement activities plan.

The undertaking requires Greater Western Water to remediate residential and small business customers by: 

• writing off any 2024 charges that were not billed before 1 September 2025, which will clear about $75 million in unbilled charges from customer accounts
• giving an $80 credit to customers who received a bill for 2024 charges that were delayed by more than seven months 
• only sending bills or recovering charges within 12 months from the end of the quarter being billed
• giving credits of between $80 and $240 to customers who receive a delayed bill for usage charges from January 2025 to June 2026, based on the length of the delay
• giving an $80 credit to approximately 70,000 customers affected by the suspension of its ‘direct debit in full’ payment option.

Greater Western Water must also implement measures to improve compliance and follow rules about how it communicates with customers.

A summary of our final decision and consultation can be accessed below.