How to read your bill

If you’re not sure about something on your bill, we’re here to help you understand it.

A lot goes into delivering clean, safe drinking water and a reliable sewer service for our community. We fix pipes, treat sewage, treat drinking water, maintain and build infrastructure, protect the environment and more.

The fees and charges paid by our customers are designed to cover the cost of our services – they’re not designed to make a profit.

Here's what a typical bill looks like.

How we calculate your total bill

Our bills include fixed charges that help to cover the cost of the sewerage and water services provided to each property, plus a variable rate based on the amount of water that is used each day.

Many of our operating costs are fixed. This means that we still have the same level of expenditure for treating sewage and water and maintaining and replacing assets, regardless of the amount of water used.

If a water or sewer main passes through or in front of your property, and can provide a service to it, it will be called ‘serviced’. Different service charges apply based on whether the property is connected or unconnected to the mains.

Standard charges include:

• Water usage – Variable charge for the amount of water used at your property as recorded by the water meter.
• Water service – Charge for us to maintain the quality of your drinking water and maintain and construct water mains and treatment plants.
• Wastewater/sewerage service – Charge for us to responsibly dispose of the wastewater/sewage from your property with the exception of properties serviced by septic tank systems.

Our charges

This is how much you pay for our services.

For more details on charges, take a look at our Tariff Notice 2021-22 and Full schedule of tariffs 2021-22 .

When to pay your bill

You’ll receive your bill every four months via email or post – whichever you’ve set as your preference.

You can also choose to make payments monthly or fortnightly. Explore our payment options.

If we have your contact details, we’ll SMS or email you a reminder that your bill is due two days before the due date, if we haven’t yet received payment. If you want to opt out of these notifications, call us on 1800 050 500 to let us know.

How to pay your bill

We have a number of different ways for you to pay your bill . Explore our payment option s to find the method that suits you. We also have a customer care program for customers having difficulty paying their bill.

Where your money goes

Your fees and charges cover the costs of:

• Keeping water and wastewater services running 24 hours a day
• Treating water to ensure it’s safe to drink.
• Treating wastewater so it can be safely returned to the environment.
• Building or renewing infrastructure to ensure it meets the growing needs of Gippsland.

Learn more about what your water bill pays for.

Is your bill higher than expected?

We’ll help you figure out why you might have received a higher bill than you were expecting.

Are you a renter?

In most cases, you’re responsible for paying the water usage and sewerage disposal charges only.

Are you a rental provider (landlord)?

You’re usually responsible for paying the service charges which cover the service of water, sewerage and drainage. You can’t pass these charges on to a renter.

If you’re the rental provider of a property that shares a meter (for example a block of units), you’re also responsible for a percentage of the total water used by all residents on the property.

Why do costs and charges vary between water corporations?

Compared to metropolitan water corporations, we have fewer customers to pay for our pipelines, pump stations and treatment plants. This can result in higher bills for regional customers.

For example, we have on average 19 customers to pay for each km of pipeline, while a typical metropolitan water corporation has 31 customers across the same distance. Because they have more customers to pay for each km of pipeline, the cost for each customer is lower. This is reflected in their water bills.

With a lot of smaller towns spread over a large area, we also need additional pump stations and treatment plants to service these small communities.

We are conscious of balancing our costs with delivering a high quality and reliable service to a widely spread population.

More information

• Financial assistance
• Tariff Notice 2021-22
• Full schedule of tariffs 2021-22
• What your bill pays for
• Understanding your water meter
• Your bill explained webinar