Annual report

Our 2022-2023 Annual Report outlines how we are continuing to implement our Water for Victoria obligations and the final year of our 2018–2023 Price Submission customer commitments. These are aligned to our Strategy 2030 vision of enabling regional prosperity by being entrepreneurial and high performing, building strategic partnerships and achieving zero waste and emissions.

The report also details how we continued to deliver strong and financially sustainable results for our customers. Our commitment to customer service excellence was reflected in Barwon Water rating first for value for money, level of trust, reputation in the community and overall satisfaction for two consecutive survey periods (August 2022 to May 2023 and June 2022 to March 2023) in the Essential Service Commission’s customer perception survey.

In the 2022-2023 financial year we invested $109.6 million in infrastructure to maintain and improve service quality while supporting regional growth. Our $50 million sewer upgrade and repairs program began in June 2023 to improve reliability and protect the local environment.

We also maintained our commitment to:

• Excellent experiences for our customers
• Planning for the future water needs of our region
• Protecting the environment
• Community partnerships which improve the region’s liveability
• A diverse and highly skilled workforce who care about the region they work in
• Disciplined financial management.

Our organisational values – caring, safe, inclusive, accountable and courageous - are demonstrated in the many examples throughout the report. Of special mention was our response to the challenges of increased cost of living. We proactively called almost 36,000 customers experiencing financial hardship to offer a range of support options, and supported 38,678 customers to access government concessions to help pay their bill. We delivered one of the lowest average residential bills in Australia (as compared to other water businesses with more than 100,000 customers).

We are proud of our deep engagement with our customers and community to inform our 2023-2028 Price Submission, which was approved by the Essential Services Commission in June.

Our focused financial management and proactive planning continues with the aim of ensuring future water needs are met for all of our community.

We continued learning from, and building relationships with, both Wadawurrung and Eastern Maar Traditional Owners.

Building relationships with local Traditional Owners is critical to how we work. Their insights help guide us in how we source, move and return water to rivers as part of our future water planning, and underpins our 2022 Urban Water Strategy: Water for our Future which we began implementing early in the financial year.

We also worked with Reconciliation Australia, local Traditional Owners and other Aboriginal groups towards finalising our Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan.

We also worked closely with Wadawurrung Traditional Owners and the local community to transform two of our disused sites – Porronggitj Karrong in Breakwater and Murrk Ngubitj Yarram Yaluk (former Bellarine Basin) – into more than 95 hectares of environmental and public open space.

We progressed our Customer Experience (CX) transformation program, which includes the ‘voice of customer’ insights program, an improved complaints management system, and a commitment to ‘I care, we care’ across all customer touchpoints.

We improved the processes we use to inform our customers about planned and unplanned outages with SMS alerts.

We increased the availability of e-billing to give our customers greater choice around how and when they interact with us, and introduced a live chat service to our website.

We proactively and empathetically managed debt collection, taking pressure off customers who are experiencing hardship.

We are on track to achieve 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2025 and net zero emissions by 2030.

When the Barwon Renewable Energy Partnership power purchase agreement with GeelongPort and Barwon Health went live in December last year, we took a big step toward using 100 per cent renewable electricity to power our operations. This helped to reduce our emissions by 16 per cent from the previous year.

We worked with businesses and councils to implement Renewable Organics Networks for Colac and the broader G21 region. This initiative will contribute to a circular economy for the region’s organic waste, provide renewable electricity for our sewage treatment plants, and produce high-value, carbon-based products.

We signed waste supply agreements with the Borough of Queenscliffe, City of Greater Geelong, Golden Plains Shire and Surf Coast Shire so that organic waste from kerbside collection can be recycled at the Regional Renewable Organics Network, which will be built at the Black Rock water reclamation plant in Connewarre.

We started upgrading the Forrest Water Treatment Plant – an $8.75-million project and core promise from our 2018–2023 Price Submission – to ensure we can continue to provide high-quality, affordable and secure services for Forrest customers and the community. 
We started upgrading Birregurra’s water supply in preparation for decommissioning of the town’s ageing local water treatment plant, open supply channel and storage basins. The town will instead be serviced by a 19-kilometre underground pipeline from Colac.

We continued teaming up with the Birregurra Community Group to explore opportunities for sustainable water use. As of March 2023, about one in five properties in Birregurra had a leak identified and repaired, saving an estimated 38 megalitres of water a year and $81,000 in water charges to the whole community.