Water business outcomes reporting

What is outcomes reporting?

Outcomes reporting considers the performance of Victoria’s water businesses against their own commitments to customers, which are established during water price reviews under our PREMO water pricing framework. We expect water businesses to take ownership for their performance and be directly accountable to their customers through self-reporting as soon as practical after the completion of each reporting year. 

Each water business reports its actual performance for the year against its targets, providing a self-assessment using a simple “traffic light” rating system:

• red = failed to meet target
• yellow = close to achieving target
• green = achieved target

Using this traffic light system, businesses rate each of their measures, each of their outcomes, and their overall performance for the year. Businesses also comment on overall performance and on each outcome.

Water businesses’ summary reports are available below, along with our latest outcomes report providing an overview on how businesses performed in 2023–24. Refer to each water business’s website for its detailed self-reporting.

Are customers getting what they paid for?

We consider customers are generally getting what they paid for. Businesses have continued to deliver value to their customers, and a number of businesses, most notably Coliban Water, GWMWater and Westernport Water, demonstrated they had delivered strong support for customers struggling with current cost-of-living pressures, outperforming their targets for customer support related outcomes and in some cases almost doubling the financial assistance provided to customers compared to the previous year. 

View each business's outcomes performance for 2023-24:

Delivery of businesses' major capital projects

Our major projects supplement covers the status of water businesses’ largest capital projects. Significant changes to the major project schedule essentially change what customers get for their prices and should be explained to customers by the water business.

While the water businesses are generally performing well against their outcome commitments, 51 major capital projects (28 per cent) are reported as being deferred or delayed – a high number considering for most businesses this is only the first year of their regulatory period. The high number of deferred and delayed projects suggests many businesses did not adequately forecast their capital expenditure having regard to current market circumstances. Only two businesses, Central Highlands Water and Gippsland Water, reported all their major capital works projects running to schedule.

We will closely monitor the delivery of major capital projects, as a business’s performance in this area, and how well it manages and communicates material changes, will factor into its PREMO Performance rating and therefore the return on equity we set at its next price review.