We recognise the impact on our customers' experience and are committed to providing support to those impacted by billing delays.
In October 2025, Greater Western Water offered an enforceable undertaking to the Essential Services Commission (ESC) following issues with our new billing and payments system.
We’re sorry for the impact these issues have had on our customers and are committed to making things right.
Along with the enforceable undertaking, the ESC has also approved temporary billing cycle changes for GWW following a period of public consultation.
Offering this enforceable undertaking to the ESC is an important step in us recognising the inconvenience we have caused customers, taking responsibility for what’s happened, fixing ongoing issues and making long-term improvements to provide our customers with an experience they deserve and expect from us.
Our commitments in the undertaking include:
waiving around $75 million in unbilled charges from the 2024 calendar year
providing around $55 million in customer credits to customers who have experienced prolonged delays or did not have access to their direct debit in full arrangements
implementing a compliance improvement action plan over a three year period.
We are currently finalising plans to implement these credits and waive charges, and will continue to provide updates to customers on the timing.
Credits and waived charges
Waived charges
Here’s what you need to know about what charges may be waived:
Our bills for residential and small business customers will waive charges for water and sewer charges from 2024 that we haven’t already billed for as of 1 September 2025.
If you received a bill for charges from the 2024 period before 1 September 2025, you’ll need to pay these charges but you may be eligible for a credit if the bill was delayed more than 7 months.
If you are waiting to receive a bill from 2024, you will still receive a bill with the Parks Charge and Waterways and Drainage charges – we collect these on behalf of the Victorian Government and they cannot be waived.
Credits for current customers
Here’s what you need to know about the credits we will apply and eligibility:
As part of our commitment in the enforceable undertaking, we will provide around $55 million in account credits to residential and small business customers who have experienced prolonged delays or did not have access to their direct debit in full arrangements. Large business customers are not eligible for credits.
If you are eligible for a credit, there’s nothing you need to do – we will apply this to your account.
You will be eligible for an $80 credit if you received a bill before 1 September 2025 which contained 2024 charges and:
you received the bill more than 7 months after you received your previous bill or
you are a new customer and were in that property for 7 months before receiving a bill
We will also provide a credit for the maximum period that your bills are delayed, for charges from 1 January 2025 onwards until they are back on track.
You will be eligible for one of the following credits on your account if your bill was delayed after 1 January 2025:
$80 credit if your bill arrived 4-6 months after the water usage period
$160 credit if your bill arrived 6-9 months after the water usage period
$240 credit if your bill arrived 9-12 months after the water usage period
If you had a direct debit in full arrangement in place and that arrangement was cancelled or switched off, you will be eligible for an $80 credit on your account.
The credits for charges after 1 January 2025 are not cumulative. A single credit will be applied for the maximum period that your bills were delayed after the end of a quarterly usage period.
Credits for former customers
If you have moved out of Greater Western Water’s service region, but were impacted by billing delays since May 2024, you may be eligible for a payment of $80 if:
you received a bill 7 months after you received your previous bill
you received a bill between 4 and 12 months after the end of the usage period you were charged for
you did not have access to your direct debit in full arrangement.
If you believe you are eligible for this payment, please contact us.
If you are a current GWW customer, you don’t need to do anything. The credit or waived charges will automatically be applied to your bill but it won’t happen straight away.
We are currently finalising plans to implement these credits and waive charges, and will progressively provide updates to customers on the timing.
If you have moved away and are no longer a GWW customer but you think you may be eligible for a payment, please contact us on 13 44 99.
No, not all customers have been impacted by the billing delays. The redress fund aims to provide support for those who have experienced the longest delays and those who have not had access to existing direct debit arrangements.
We are currently finalising plans to implement these credits and waive charges, and will provide updates to customers on the timing.
We appreciate your patience while we work on getting these credits to the right customers.
The credits offered for delayed bills for charges after 1 January 2025 are not cumulative. It is a one-off account credit based on the longest period of delay.
Example: if a customer is issued two bills, sent 10 months after the end of one quarter and 7 months after the end of the next quarter, the customer will be entitled to a $240 account credit only, not $400.
If you are eligible for a credit based on having a delayed bill, and you are also eligible for a credit as you have not had access to your direct debit in full arrangement, then you may receive both credits.
Yes. While we will be waiving any unbilled GWW water and sewer related charges from the 2024 calendar year for residential and small business customers, customers waiting for bills from 2024 will still receive a bill for the Parks Charge and the Waterways and Drainage Charge. We collect these charges on the behalf of the Victorian Government and we are unable to waive these charges.
The redress fund in the enforceable undertaking considers credits for delayed bills up until June 2026.
This means if you are a residential or small business customer who receives a delayed bill between 4 and 12 months after the end of the usage period you were charged for between 1 January 2025 and June 2026, you will be eligible for a credit on the same sliding scale – between $80 and $240 depending on the maximum delay in your bills from the end of the quarterly usage period, during this period.
No. Charges will be waived for unbilled charges that had not been issued from 1 September 2025 onwards. However, you will likely be eligible for a credit on your bill – you just won’t receive both a credit and waived charges.
If your account is up to date but you meet one of the eligibility criteria, such as receiving a bill 4-12 months after the usage period you were charged for with charges after 1 January 2025, then you are eligible for a credit.
Not all customers remain impacted by the billing delays, and not all customers have experienced a delay at all since May 2024. Around 4 in 5 customer accounts are back on track.
The redress fund aims to provide additional support to customers who have been impacted by the longest delays and lack of access to their direct debit in full arrangements.
While we get our billing back on track, some customers will receive their bills close together. These customers will have 4 months to pay, and we can also offer:
payment plans to suit you
assistance to apply for hardship or utility relief grants
referrals to independent and confidential financial counselling
more time to pay
Please call us on 13 44 99 and we’ll work it out together.
Any surplus from these customer redress measures will either be returned to customers as credits, where we will aim to prioritise those most affected or experiencing vulnerability, or paid to a third party entity approved by the ESC.
Soon we will start sending your bills that have been delayed to get our billing back on track. So that we can return you to the quarterly billing schedule you expect, you’ll receive your delayed bills closer together.
You can expect to receive these bills in the coming months.
Yes, all customers who meet the eligibility criteria will receive the relevant credit and/or waiver, regardless of whether you are a landlord, tenant or owner occupier.
We will continue to update our direct debit customers about any changes and when they can expect to have this service restored.
