Family violence resources for businesses

Regulatory rules

The commission has developed rules that require water businesses and energy retailers to have a family violence policy that supports and protects customers affected by family violence, including providing training for staff. These rules have been in place since 1 July 2018 for water businesses and from 1 January 2020 for energy retailers.

We consulted widely with regulated businesses and family violence experts to develop these rules, following a recommendation from the 2016 Royal Commission into Family Violence. The Royal Commission into Family Violence found that essential services could be used by perpetrators of family violence to cause harm.

We monitor compliance with the rules and take enforcement action to hold businesses to account. One of our enduring compliance and enforcement priorities is to help Victorians experiencing vulnerability to access essential services, especially those who are affected by family violence, or are experiencing payment difficulty.

“While we support businesses to meet their obligations, we take potential breaches of family violence provisions very seriously. When we identify that businesses fall short, we don’t hesitate to take action to hold those businesses to account.” 
- Former commissioner and chairperson Kate Symons, speaking at the Family Violence Leaders Forum in August 2023.

Industry education and awareness

Our work on family violence has been a collaborative process from the beginning. We support businesses to meet their obligations by working in partnership and collaboration with our regulated sectors, community organisations and people with lived experience of family violence.

Through our education and awareness raising activities we aim to assist compliance, foster innovation beyond the minimum standards, and to inspire business practice towards continual improvement. We do this through publications and events to ensure research and lessons learnt are available for all.

The commission will continue to support shared learning across Victorian businesses to ensure the highest level of support across the state.

“They [expert advisory panel of family violence survivor advocates] saw it as our role to foster an environment where businesses can speak openly when things go wrong. That we need to acknowledge that mistakes will be made, but when they are we should be sharing these mistakes to ensure they aren’t repeated by others. We have an active role to take in encouraging businesses to have this dialogue.”
- Former commissioner and chairperson Kate Symons, reflecting on what she heard from the Expert Advisory Panel of family violence survivor advocates as part of the Water Industry Standards family violence implementation review.

Partnerships and expert advice

We partner and work with experts to ensure we are taking a better practice approach, including bringing lived experience to the heart of our work on family violence. The voices of people with lived experience of family violence play an important role in our family violence work program. 

“We heard from survivors of family violence through our work program over the last six years, and their voices provided an important input to the outcomes we delivered. However, we knew that there was more to learn about how to take a comprehensive approach to incorporating lived experience into our work. We sought advice from experts on how to take a better practice approach to bringing lived experience to the heart of our work on family violence.”
- Former commissioner and chairperson Kate Symons, speaking at the launch of the practical guidance on responding to and engaging survivors of family violence in June 2022.

Our family violence work: a timeline

2024

The Essential Services Commission formed a partnership with key leaders in family violence and economic abuse to develop better practice guides for energy and water businesses to support consumers who are experiencing family violence. The Safety by Design partnership brings together a team of independent experts: Thriving Communities Australia, Flequity Ventures (Catherine Fitzpatrick), Safe and Equal and the Centre for Women’s Economic Safety.

The family violence clause in the Water Industry Standards was amended to make it clear that a water business must take action to assist customers affected by family violence, in addition to having a family violence policy. The amendment came into effect on 1 April 2024.

2023

Commission staff were joined by water and energy peers as we walked in the annual Respect Victoria Walk Against Family Violence on 24 November. Participating in this annual event is an important way for the commission to demonstrate our commitment to preventing family violence in our community.

Over 100 leaders from the water, energy and community sectors attended the online Family Violence Leaders Forum we co-hosted with the Energy and Water Ombudsman Victoria on 29 August 2023. Attendees heard insights from experts and shared learnings about how the water and energy sectors can work individually and together to reduce the incidence of family violence and financial abuse. A video recording of the presentations is available on our website.

On 20 July 2023 we released the report on our review of the family violence provisions in the Water Industry Standards. The review was guided and informed by an Expert Advisory Panel of family violence survivor advocates as well as consultation with water businesses, community organisations, financial counsellors and people with lived experience of family violence.

2022

On 26 May 2022 we released three reports that provide better practice responses to victim survivors of family violence. The guidance in the reports can be applied and adapted by essential service providers and other businesses to enable safe and appropriate responses to consumers experiencing family violence and to support better practice engagement with survivor advocates. 

These reports were developed during 2020-21 through our partnership with Safe and Equal, in collaboration with the University of Melbourne’s Safer Families Centre and the University’s WEAVERS (Women and children who have Experienced Abuse and Violence: Advisors and Researchers) lived experience group. 

2021

Legislative amendments took effect during December 2021 and March 2022, and the family violence provisions of the updated Energy Retail Code of Practice became enforceable with a broader range of enforcement options, including penalty notices and civil litigation.

The commission also updated its compliance and enforcement policy to ensure that all customers are treated fairly and that trust is enhanced in the markets and sectors that the commission regulates.

2020

Regular community roundtables kept the commission abreast of the changing nature of consumer issues, including family violence, throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

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

2019

We announced changes to the Energy Retail Code that will come into effect on 1 January 2020. These changes aim to give customers affected by family violence an entitlement to safe, supportive and flexible assistance in managing their personal and financial security.

We published our revised better practice guide with in-depth case examples from across multiple industries. We also reported on the outcomes for customers following the family violence changes to the water customer service codes.

At the Victorian energy open forum on 27 August 2019, we spoke to energy industry stakeholders about our family violence work. 

2018 

We audited water businesses for compliance with the water customer service code  We also began our family violence resources review for the energy retail sector, collaborating with energy retailers, water businesses and family violence experts. 

In October 2018 we released an issues paper exploring ways energy retailers can provide family violence assistance that is
safe and effective.

2017

We collaborated with family violence experts and water businesses to make changes to customer service codes for water businesses. The changes introduced obligations on water businesses to develop a family violence policy that included minimum requirements defined by the water customer service codes.

We also published our first better practice guide with examples of better practice approached to family violence support. This guide contained examples of policies, including the commission's own family violence policy for staff. 

2016

The Royal Commission into Family Violence released 227 recommendations. We were assigned responsibility for implementing recommendation 109, which related to updating the Energy Retail Code and water customer service codes. 

We updated the Energy Retail Code to better protect residential electricity and gas customers anticipating or facing payment difficulty and included family violence as part of the eligibility criteria.