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How to read your bill
If you’re not sure about something on your bill, we’re here to help you understand it.
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 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.
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, weekly 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.
From time to time we may engage a third party debt collection agency. If you are contacted by someone who says they’re reaching out on our behalf and you feel unsure, you can always verify this by giving us a call.
We won’t start debt recovery for any customers who have an eligible concession card, have a flexible payment plan or who are in our Customer Support program.
If you’re experiencing financial difficulty, we can help. Email customercare@gippswater.com.au or call us on 1800 050 500 between 8.00am and 5.00pm Monday to Friday to discuss your situation with us.
How to pay your bill
There are many different ways to pay your bill. Explore our payment options to find the method that suits you. We also have a Customer Support 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.
Frequently asked questions about yor bill
In most cases, you’re responsible for paying the water usage and sewerage disposal charges only.
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.
We’ll help you figure out why you might have received a higher bill than you were expecting.
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.
Sample residential bill
Open the PDFs to see what a typical bill looks like.