Overview
We provide water and sewerage services to 39 towns across north-east Victoria. Generally, every five years, we determine our fees and charges through a price submission process. This sets the services we’ll provide and the prices customers will pay from 1 July 2026.
The Essential Services Commission (ESC) reviews and approves this plan to ensure our prices are fair and meet community expectations.
Current engagement activities
Our engagement is continuing during the price submisssion process and current activites that you can participate in include:
- All customers are invited to register their interest in joining our deliberative forum happening in early 2025.
- You can also participate in our Regional Master Planning Program by joining our informative webinar series, which offers an in-depth look at our master planning initiatives across the seven Local Government Areas we serve.
- And over coming weeks additional engagement will involve key stakeholders, including First Nations peoples, industrial customers, local governments, and developers.
Our engagement activities so far
More than 630 customers have used an interactive Bill Simulator to explore different service levels, and understand how these choices might impact their future water bills.
Over 1100 customers took part in a priorities survey, allowing us to gain insights into what matters most to them and better understand their preferences.
We have held 17 pop-up kiosks in the following towns:
- Beechworth
- Benalla
- Bright
- Corryong
- Eskdale
- Goorambat
- Mount Beauty
- Moyhu
- Myrtleford
- Rutherglen
- Tallangatta
- Tungamah
- Walwa
- Wangaratta
- Wodonga
- Yackandandah
- Yarrawonga
We have also held online focus groups with:
- Pensioners
- Renters
- Customers experiencing financial difficulty
- Newly arrived customers
- Customers living with a disability
- Younger customers
- Small to Medium sized businesses
- Large Households
- Small Households
More than 200 customers have participated in an online survey, sharing their expectations for water and sewer services through eight targeted questions.
We hosted a webinar to explain the price submission process, detailing how we set our charges, plan capital investments, and establish service standards for the next five-year pricing period. This is available to watch here.
We've used this video to explain the price submission process.
We are actively promoting the price submission process and our engagement activities across North East Water's five social media channels and various Facebook community pages throughout the region.
Price submission process
Guidance and preparation
The ESC provides us with detailed guidelines outlining the requirements for our price submission. This includes the regulatory framework we must adhere to and the expectations for our proposed prices and services.
Customer engagement
We will actively engage with our customers to understand their needs, preferences and priorities. This feedback will be instrumental in shaping our price submission.
Developing our proposal
Using the guidance from the ESC and the feedback from our customers, we will develop a comprehensive price submission. This will detail our proposed prices, planned investments and the service standards we aim to achieve over the next five years.
Submission to the ESC
Once our proposal is ready, we will submit it to the ESC for review. The ESC will assess our submission to ensure it meets regulatory requirements and provides value for money.
Engagement gallery
