About us

The Energy & Water Ombudsman NSW (EWON) is the government approved dispute resolution scheme for New South Wales electricity and gas customers, and some water customers. If you've made a complaint to one of our members, and you're not happy with their response, let us know.

We were founded in 1998 as an industry-based Ombudsman scheme, to independently resolve complaints about our members. We are an independent body – we are not a consumer advocate, nor do we represent industry. We work towards a fair and reasonable outcome for all parties. If a matter is not resolved, we may make a binding decision.

The Ombudsman manages our day-to-day operations and our Board of Directors is responsible for corporate governance, funding, policy and strategy. We operate according to our constitution and charter and are funded by our members.

We have strong relationships with other agencies in the energy sector and work with government and regulators to update them on industry trends and issues identified through our complaint handling and outreach. Read our recent submissions.

Through our community engagement program, we educate consumers, small businesses and community workers about energy and water issues.

In 2019/2020 we received 19,370 energy and water complaints from customers and small business. Read more in our Annual Report

Our independence

Our decision-making process is independent of members and stakeholders. The Ombudsman is able to make decisions without any interference, based on what is fair and reasonable, and what is within our jurisdiction.

Our mission

We  aim to provide high quality, independent dispute resolution and to help raise customer service standards in the energy and water industries.

Cost for using our service

Our service is free for consumers and small business.

Our benchmarks

We plan our activities and measure our success against six industry-standard benchmarks: accessibility, independence, fairness, accountability, efficiency and effectiveness.

Our values

Our values are benchmarks for what we consider to be the ‘right’ behaviours to demonstrate in all we do. Our values provide a framework for consistency and accountability in how we act and make decisions, guiding the everyday interactions of everyone here. Values say a lot about us as individuals and as an organisation and help us to be clear about what is important.