Annual Report 2019-20

Our work in family violence reforms won the Innovative Regulation Award at the Institute of Public Administration’s Leadership in the Public Sector Awards. 

These reforms provide Victorian water and energy customers with greater support and opportunities for involvement in price setting.

A family violence support framework for water and energy businesses

Our family violence support framework aims to ensure water and energy customers affected by family violence have access to safe and flexible support. Through this work we intend to affirm a key message from the Royal Commission’s report: everyone has a role to play in ending family violence.

The 2016 report from Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence found that financial abuse was a common tactic in family violence. Perpetrators of family violence can restrict access to essential services, deliberately collect debt in the victim’s name and use business systems to find a victim’s new location.

The Royal Commission recommended we update the Energy Retail Code and water customer service codes to support victims of family violence.

While some energy and water businesses had family violence responses in place, many were new to this area. Working with family violence organisations and industry representatives, we developed an innovative approach to help businesses create change.

Providing a framework and promoting better practice

We developed a family violence framework for water and energy businesses that:

• includes enforceable codes (with minimums standards)
• states the role of utility providers in supporting the physical and financial security of customers affected by family violence
• enshrines a right to assistance addressing the long-term consequences of family violence, which is available for every Victorian consumer
• highlights high performance, according to the principles of better practice.

To further promote good and innovative practices we:

• Created an online hub with resources for businesses to use and share.
• Developed a better practice guide providing innovative and fit-for-purpose case studies.

Outcomes of our family violence reforms

Customer research we conducted showed a positive response to the reforms:

Clients feel believed – Financial counsellors say their clients feel believed by their water business.

Customer service staff showing more empathy – Customer service staff are showing more empathy towards requests for assistance.

Better outcomes for customers – Assistance available is creating better outcomes for customers affected by family violence.

“They’re actually looking at the individual and their circumstances and there’s more respect now for clients and a lot of empathy. I think they’ve re-educated their customer support workers and telephone staff.” Financial counsellor on the changes to the code.