Greater Western Water (GWW) is proposing to waive about $75 million in unbilled charges for usage in 2024 and provide approximately $55 million in customer credits.
GWW has offered the potential solution to the Essential Services Commission (ESC), following the billing system issues that have affected many of its customers since May 2024.
The delays happened because the new billing system couldn’t create bills automatically and 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 and advised most of the affected customers they had delayed bills.
The draft enforceable undertaking includes several measures to compensate customers for the inconvenience, including no charges for residential properties and small businesses who did have missing or delayed bills.
The water supplier is also proposing to provide direct debit credits and returning surplus payments to customers who may have been double billed.
As part of the proposed deal, GWW would implement a three-year compliance improvement program to strengthen their billing practices and safeguard against similar issues occurring in the future.
This undertaking builds on an independent review recently conducted by the Nous Group, an international consultancy firm, which supports a bolstered billing system and appropriate restitution to affected customers.
The ESC is currently consulting on this and customers can view the draft undertaking and share feedback until 5pm on Wednesday, October 22.
