Community Panel
We hosted a Community Panel to help us answer the question "How do we prepare for tomorrow, while being fair to our customers today?"
Welcome to our new pricing period
Determining what you pay for your water and sewerage services requires careful planning.
To help ensure our pricing for 2023-2028 is fair, we spoke with almost 20,000 people over six months - including customers in urban and rural areas, young people, older people, community groups, business customers, local councils and Traditional Owners.
An independent 32-member Community Panel also helped test whether our proposed pricing, investment plans and levels of service meet community expectations now, and in the future.
We're pleased to announce our Price Submission for 2023-2028 has been approved by the Essential Services Commission (ESC).
How our customers helped shape our Price Submission
We popped up. We videoed. We posted. We emailed. We were at town halls and community meetings. We ran panel sessions and Q&As.
In fact, our Price Submission 2023-2028 was informed by our biggest engagement program to date.
You can learn more about the process in the Community Draft and meet our Community Panel, and learn more about their recommendations, in the sections below.
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Find out more
You told us these things were most important
During the engagement process undertaken to shape our Price Submission 2023-2028, our customers told us these five things were most important to them. We'll be focusing on these key priorities as part of our plans for the next five years.
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High quality water you can trust
Safe, healthy drinking water. Fit-for-purpose water pressure. Good tasting water. High reliability.
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Be easy to deal with
Timely, proactive information about services, leaks and interruptions. The ability to interact with us when and where you want. eBilling and more self-help options.
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Enhance the environment
Protect the environment and our catchments. Preventative maintenance of sewers to reduce the number of spills. Reduced carbon emissions. Greater use of recycled water and stormwater. Education about water literacy.
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Fair prices
Stable prices that are fair for all. Support for customers experiencing vulnerability.
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Help to make our region a better place to live
Promote local employment. Be prepared for growth. Help create a liveable community with green spaces and recreational water access.
What happens next?
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Timeline item 1 - complete
July 2022
Release the Community Draft for review.
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Timeline item 2 - complete
August 2022
Incorporate feedback.
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Timeline item 3 - complete
September 2022
Submit the final Pricing Submission to the Victorian Essential Services Commission.
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Timeline item 4 - complete
March 2023
Victorian Essential Services Commission will provide a draft decision pending further consultation with customers.
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Timeline item 5 - complete
June 2023
Victorian Essential Services Commission makes its determination and approves the Pricing Submission or requests changes.
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Timeline item 6 - complete
1 July 2023
New prices and service levels come into effect on 1 July 2023.
More about your feedback
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Support for customers experiencing vulnerability
We are committed to supporting customers experiencing financial difficulty either in the short or long term. We work with local support agencies to help deliver our Coliban Assist Program.
We contacted customers and support agencies.
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Traditional Owners
We are forming stronger relationships with Traditional Owner groups and Aboriginal Cooperatives. Through these relationships, we are informed on how we improve our services for Indigenous customers and how we increase opportunities to work with Indigenous businesses.
We invited our traditional owners to speak with us about the challenges and opportunities we share, and we carried out some interviews with Indigenous customers.
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Business & Minor Trade Waste customers
Trade waste customers pay additional fees for the additional demand they put on our sewer system. The fees charged are based on the level of demand.
Business customers operate a business and use our services but may not have a direct relationship with us.
We sent a survey to business and minor trade waste customers to understand what challenges they are currently facing.
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Land Development
Land developers build the infrastructure required to service new estates. On completion of a new estate, we take ownership to maintain and supply water and sewer services to new customers.
We surveyed our land development community to understand what key challenges they are facing in the years ahead. The feedback formed the basis for discussions at a workshop.
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Major customers
Our major customers are industrial, trade waste or large water users who we have individual agreements with us about what they discharge to the sewer network.
We spoke with them individually to conduct one on one interviews to get their feedback on future prices and services.
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Councils
Our role is to work with the nine shire councils that overlap our region to ensure our communities have the infrastructure and resources to have healthy people and environment; prosperous economies; and green and active communities.
We have relationships with councils at all tiers of the business.
We surveyed our council and held deep dive discussions.
