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.
We’ve worked hard to ensure the engagement process for our price submission is inclusive and accessible to everyone. We’ve provided a range of opportunities for participation, enabling input from customers and communities across our service region. Importantly, our customers have helped shape the process and set the agenda for our deliberative forum.
Our deliberative forum has concluded
Our Deliberative Forum consisted of 35 diverse and broadly representative customers and community members, selected through an independent process to ensure fair representation across age, gender, and other demographics.
The panel met over five days to provide advice and innovation in formulating solutions to the following question:
“Our communities are growing and our climate is changing. How do we work together to plan for the future so we can continue to provide safe, reliable, sustainable and affordable services for now and generations to come?”
The process focused on the following:
- How North East Water balances fixed and volumetric charges on bills
- How North East Water balances investment in growth and compliance with affordability
- Should North East Water raise, lower or keep our current service standards for water and wastewater systems.
The panel has now provided a clear set of recommendations, which we will incorporate into our next Price Submission as much as possible. If we are unable to adopt certain recommendations, we will provide clear reasons why.
Once the submission has been developed, which we will present back to forum members in June before submitting it to the ESC in September.
We thank our amazing panel members for their time, insights, and contributions to this important process.
Our engagement activities
Our Deliberative Forum consisted of 35 diverse and broadly representative customers and community members, selected through an independent process to ensure fair representation across age, gender, and other demographics. They carefully considered and provided advice on key strategic questions. The panel has provided a clear set of recommendations which will be incorporated into the North East Water Price Submission to the maximum extent possible, and we will provide reasons where we are unable to do so.
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’ve grouped their feedback into key themes to address questions, comments and concerns. See the results here.
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.
More than 30 developers, consultants and LGA planning staff attended our special forum, which featured an independently facilitated workshop exploring the infrastructure needs essential to supporting regional growth - key focus of our Price Submission.
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.
Further engagement was carried out with key stakeholders through face-to-face meetings and an online survey. This included:
- Traditional Owners/First Nations groups (7)
- Major customers (8 representatives)
- Local governments (6 LGAs)
- Other stakeholders (10 representatives)
We hosted seven Regional Master Planning Program webinars that offered an in-depth look at our master planning initiatives across the seven Local Government Areas we serve. These are available to watch here.
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
Contact Us
Have questions or want to learn more about a project, contact us below:
| Phone | 1300 361 622 |
|---|---|
| info@newater.com.au | |
| Website | www.newater.com.au |
| In writing | North East Water |
