Sunshine resident Matthew Schulz was slugged with a delayed bill notice of $2641.20 for around 18 months of water use.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Schulz told 9News he was “confused” when he saw the huge charge after he tried to remedy the direct debit issue in late 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n “I can’t afford that, that’s not something that I budgeted for,” Schulz said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n “I am happy to pay what I owe, but it’s just diabolical, it’s just a big mess.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n At first, Schulz\ufeff was told he needed to pay the full amount.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n But GWW has since worked out a payment plan.\ufeff<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n “I have direct debits for all my other bills and they just get paid on time,” Schulz added.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n An ill-fated $100 million IT upgrade is understood to be the cause of the billing bungle\ufeff.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n GWW acknowledged the billing issue and said it is passing on $130 million in bill relief to customers, along with the facilitation of payment plans.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n GWW Managing Director Cameron Fitzgerald said the company had “missed the mark” and encouraged impacted customers to contact the company over any back-dated bills.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n “We know that we’ve let the community down and we’re working really hard with our regulator, the ombudsman, to improve our systems,” Fitzgerald told 9News.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n “We’re about halfway through our catch-up billing approach, which is about bringing people back to their regular billing cycles so they can be confident about their water bill, what they get, and how we move forward.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n “We want people to call us, because we know we got this wrong, we know that we need to make this right.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n General Manager Customer Experience Terence Alvares told Nine.com.au that most customers are now back on the regular billing cycle.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \ufeff”We know the billing issues have caused significant frustration for our customers, and we’re genuinely sorry for the impact this has had,” Alvares said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n “No one is expected to pay a large amount all at once.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Energy and Water Ombudsman Victoria (EWOV) said it has fielded nearly 4000 complaints about GWW between October 2024 and March 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n There were 120 complaints regarding back-dated bills for the month of March.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n “Greater Western Water customers have reported a range of billing, customer service and payment difficulty issues to EWOV, including bill shock from retrospective bills,” EWOV ombudsman and chief executive Catherine Wolthuizen said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n “In some cases, customers have received bills for significant amounts, and faced difficulty paying these large bills.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n “Some customers have come to us disputing the accuracy of backbills and other customers report having never received bills.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n According to the Essential Services Commission, water businesses in Victoria have a four-month backbilling limit where a customer has been undercharged for a water bill.\ufeff<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n However, the regulator gave GWW the green light to pursue customers over the unpaid bills in 2025\ufeff.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n EWOV said it is continuing to investigate ongoing complaints.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n