NORTHERN Grampians Shire was among the top five Victorian municipalities with the highest number of energy and water-related complaints last year.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Victoria’s Energy and Water Ombudsman’s 2018 report shows the ombudsman dealt with 87 cases in the shire in 2017-18, up 36 per cent from the year before.
The shire’s per capita rate of 7.8 cases per 1000 people is about 50 per cent higher than the state average.
Only Strathbodie, Pyrenees, Bass Coast and Murrindindi shires had higher case rates, with the latter the highest at 9.1.
High bill issues accounted for 12 of the cases in Northern Grampians Shire, close to double the average for all Victorian municipalities.
Other cases relate to disconnections or supply restrictions due to debt; credit defaults; new connections and existing connections.
Overall, there were 354 cases in the Wimmera.
West Wimmera Shire had the lowest per capita rate of cases in the Wimmera, with 2.6 cases for every 1000 residents. This is about half the statewide average of 5.37 cases for every thousand residents.
The decrease in cases year on year was the second-highest decrease in Victoria.
There were 10 complaints in the shire in 2017-18, down from 10 the previous year.
Case numbers also decreased in Hindmarsh Shire and Ararat Rural City though only slightly, with a difference of two cases and four cases respectively from the year before.
Horsham Rural City had 5.3 cases for every 1000 people for a total of 104 issues and complaints in 2017-18, up from 86 the year prior.
Yarriambiack Shire’s case numbers increased from 21 to 28, while Buloke had 10 more cases last year than the year before.
Ombudsman Cynthia Gebert said affordability was a continuing concern for residents across the state.
“A significant number of the customers presented with limited capacity to reduce their consumption or increase their capacity to pay,” she said.
Ms Gebert said although the number of issues raised with the ombudsman last year – 34, 524 – were up from the previous 12 months, case numbers had declined significantly in the past four years.
She said high bill cases were the top complaint across the state, with 87 per cent of these issues about energy.
