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Ombudsman's message

Janine Young EWON’s year has kicked off with a strong focus on community engagement including regional Bring Your Bills days, energy transition community events, and panel discussions with industry leaders.

I was privileged to join our Outreach team for EWON Bring Your Bills Days in Wollongong and Nowra in February. As part of these events, I met with Shoalhaven Mayor, Patricia White, and local electoral officers to talk about EWON’s work; better understand the energy and water concerns of their constituents; and encourage them to refer customers to EWON when energy provider support had not worked. Watch the video of our Nowra and Wollongong BYB’s Days via the below link!

I was also pleased to speak at the annual Energy Consumers Australia Forum, joining panel members, Clare Savage, AER Chair; Mark Collette, CEO EnergyAustralia and Jeannie Patterson, University of Melbourne in a discussion that explored the introduction of a consumer-focused duty of care to the energy sector. From an EWON perspective, introduction must be energy sector wide and not limited to energy retailers and networks.

In my closing remarks I acknowledged that the energy sector has a very positive reputation for considering the physical safety of its customers and staff, particularly during outages and crisis situations. Safety is a highly regulated issue and both the compliance focus and the practical and dedicated delivery approach makes it work for all. I noted that if this same approach was used to introduce a consumer duty of care, the sector would be obviating the detrimental mental health implications associated with debt, disconnection, credit reporting, land access, poor individual or community engagement. We’ve received positive feedback so let’s see where we go with it.

Following our expansion to take complaints about renewable energy transmission infrastructure, we have hit the road and increased our community engagement in regional NSW, with stalls at local agricultural shows and markets in the Central West and New England. I also met recently with the new Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner, Tony Mahar, to share insights from our community engagement and explore opportunities to work together. Keep your eye out for us at other regional events throughout the year.

Janine Young
Ombudsman & Chief Executive Officer
Energy & Water Ombudsman NSW

Photo: Janine Young speaking on the panel with Mark Collette, Energy Australia (left) Professor Jeannie Marie Paterson, University of Melbourne and panel chair, Dr Brendan French Energy Consumers Australia. Clare Savage, Australian Energy Regulator also spoke on the panel.

Complaint update

In the October to December 2024 quarter, EWON received 6,414 complaints – down 30.9% compared to the previous quarter. Billing remained the biggest issue with 4,695 complaints, followed by 411 credit complaints and 278 about digital meter exchange. The majority of complaints were about electricity (5,111), with 1,045 complaints about gas and 233 regarding water.

Complaints by quarter

View all complaint data

Energy Transition team kicks off regional engagement

We’ve expanded our jurisdiction to take complaints about renewable energy and transmission infrastructure. Over the past three months the Energy Transition team have attended events in Gulgong, Guyra, Armidale and Goulburn to understand the experiences of landholders and community members impacted by these projects.

Check out our new customer factsheets on New energy transmission infrastructure and Renewable energy infrastructure to learn more about EWON’s role in the energy transition.

If you want to hear more about our experiences engaging with rural communities, tune in to the Energy Charter’s emPOWER podcast to hear Ombudsman, Janine Young, talk about her insights on effective community engagement during the energy transition:

“Turning up at the farm gate and having a 2-3 minute conversation with a landowner just doesn’t cut it. You just don’t get the learning and the understanding".

This month, we’ll be at the Upper Hunter Show on 14-16 March and the Dunedoo Show on 29 March. If your organisation would like EWON’s Energy Transition team to attend a community event, you can email community@ewon.com.au.

Higher water prices on the horizon

Sydney Water, Hunter Water and Water NSW are planning large price increases for 2025 to 2030.

Sydney Water has proposed total bill increases of 18% next year, then 7% each year for the following four years, plus inflation. Our Policy team made a submission to the proposal focusing on affordability, vulnerability, water rebates and the cost of living impacts of the price rises.

Customers and community members can make a submission to IPART once the draft report is released in May 2025. New prices will be effective from 1 October 2025. Visit the IPART pricing review webpage to stay up to date on the changes.

If your clients are having difficulty paying their Hunter Water, Sydney Water or Shoalhaven Water bill, they may be eligible for the water Payment Assistance Scheme (PAS). PAS is available from community welfare organisations like Vinnies, Salvos and Anglicare.

Check out our High water bills factsheet for information on what to do if you have received a high bill.

Our visit to Wollongong and Nowra

EWON’s outreach team visited Wollongong and Nowra to host two Bring Your Bills events in February.

We teamed up with energy and water providers and a range of community and government agencies to deliver direct energy and water assistance to locals and offer support for legal and financial issues, tenancy rights, social services and more.

The events at the Berkeley Neighbourhood Centre and Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre allowed us to connect with consumers personally to provide practical and on the spot support. We spoke to many customers on the day, check out the video recap!

Worried about power outages?

The Energy Charter has launched two new campaigns aimed at empowering customers to plan ahead while the lights are still on, for unexpected power outages.

Outages caused by extreme weather events

Extreme and unpredictable weather events increase the risk of power outages, sometimes for more than a few hours. While energy providers work hard to get the lights back on, every household should have a power outage plan, so they’re prepared for unexpected outages. Visit poweroutageplan.com.au to plan.

If you use medical equipment

Power outages can be life-threatening for people using medical equipment at home, but these new resources can help customers take control by creating a plan ahead of time for when a power outage happens. The campaign urges customers using medical equipment at home to:

check the Power Outage Checklist

plan ahead by completing a Power Outage Plan with their support network.

The Energy Charter invites you to share these campaigns with your networks and clients, to help keep everyone safe.

Top tip: adjust the way you use electricity to save money!

With the growing number of households using smart meters, network providers have changed the way they charge for electricity. If you’re on a cost-reflective tariff, you might be able to save on your energy bills by adjusting your usage patterns

For example time of use tariffs or demand tariffs, may be better used on one appliance at a time, or to use appliances outside the peak demand window, ie overnight.

Want to know more? Read our factsheet: What is my electricity tariff.pdf

Case study

Unresolved broken water valve near property

Mick noticed that a water valve near his property was broken and was leaking extensively. He contacted the water provider multiple times over four months however the issue remained unresolved. He was concerned about the waste of water and the inconvenience of having to raise the issue with the water provider on so many occasions.

We initially referred the complaint to a specialist team to try to resolve directly with Mick. The customer returned to EWON for further assistance as the water provider said it repaired the valve, however it was still leaking water.

When we requested additional information from the provider it said several attempts had been made to repair the stop valve, however there were two that needed fixing and one was in the middle of the road. Due to the complexity of the repair, the water provider needed to obtain a Road Occupancy Licence to complete the work after hours with traffic control.

The provider explained it would need to shut two large trunk mains, which would involve a trial shutdown to ensure the mains could be isolated. It explained that there was a risk of affecting supply to around 15,000 customers and the additional precaution was necessary to assess the extent of the shut down and limit further issues. It had scheduled a trial shutdown and after this would be able to provide an update as to when the repairs would be completed.

Mick was provided with this additional information, along with a contact at the water provider to seek updates on the work, if required.

Visit us!

If you’d like us to attend an event or visit/present to your community organisation, email community@ewon.com.au. You can also book us in for a free information session on energy and water affordability programs, rebates and concessions, and tips to save you money on energy or water bills.

Want to see more from us?

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Resources for community workers

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