Welcome to our first newsletter for 2022. Our thoughts are with the people in Lismore and surrounding communities who are impacted by the devastating and unprecedented flooding in northern NSW. We’ve visited Lismore many times over the years to engage with customers experiencing vulnerability. We’ve seen firsthand their incredible strength and resilience but it’s up to all of us now to send our support to those communities.
After flooding subsides, it will be some time before energy impacts are experienced – missing bills, affordability challenges, and metering issues. We will prioritise complaints from customers who have been affected by the floods. In the meantime, here is a list of all available government and community agency support contacts for immediate assistance.
We also look forward to catching up with the local community in person when we head up to Casino for three days in May for the PRIMEX Sustainable Farming and Industries Expo.
We celebrated International Women's Day this week. EWON strives to build an inclusive workplace and we’re proud of our all-female Management Team and 83% female workforce. Our commitment is to #breakthebias.
The next few weeks will see us ramping up our outreach for 2022, following our attendance at Mardi Gras Fair Day and the Yabun Festival, two fantastic events that provided a perfect kickstart to EWON’s year. We’re thrilled to be getting back out into community and reconnecting with customers we haven’t been able to reach easily over the past two years. A busy outreach program will take our team to Dubbo for the Financial Resilience Expo and to Broken Hill, Menindee, Pooncarie, and Wentworth with the National Recovery & Resilience Agency.
Within EWON, we are currently undertaking a funding model reform project. Our membership has increased rapidly in recent years, and the changing energy landscape means member businesses are now very diverse. To keep pace, and ensure EWON remains accessible to all consumers, we’re taking a closer look at how energy and water companies fund EWON to ensure it is equitable, fair, effective and efficient. Watch this space for more updates.
Take care
Janine Young
Ombudsman and Chief Executive Officer
Energy & Water Ombudsman NSW
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