Privacy Policy

To assist you with your enquiry or complaint, EWOV collects personal information. EWOV is committed to keeping your personal information safe, and handles this information in line with the National Privacy Principles (“the NPPs”) contained in the Privacy Act (Cth) 1988.

Personal information is, generally, information about an individual which can be used to identify that individual. The NPPs outline how personal information should be managed by businesses, to ensure that the privacy of individuals who deal with those businesses is protected.

Why we collect your personal information

EWOV collects personal information to assist us in responding to your enquiry or resolving your complaint about your provider. You have the right to contact EWOV anonymously; however this may affect our ability to assist you with your problem.

Who we collect your personal information from

We collect personal information from you when you contact us. Where we are investigating your complaint, we also collect information about the complaint from your provider. In some cases, we may need to seek information from agents of your provider, such as the relevant energy distribution business for electricity and gas complaints.

Depending on the nature of your complaint, we may also need to seek information from other people. This may include relevant regulators such as the Essential Services Commission or Energy Safe Victoria, or other people who may be able to provide information to assist in our investigation – for instance, your plumber or electrician. Where we need to seek information from someone other than your supplier or its agents, we will discuss this with you first.

Collection of third party information

Third parties are individuals not directly involved in a dispute – such as a friend or neighbour. EWOV does not collect information that could identify a third party, unless we cannot properly investigate a matter without that information. Please do not provide any third party information to us, unless it is needed for us to resolve your complaint. If you do provide us with third party information, we may need you to contact that person, to tell them that you have provided their information to us.

If you are a joint account holder, please tell the other account holder that you have contacted EWOV regarding the account.

What we do with your personal information

EWOV will use your personal information to respond to your enquiry or resolve your complaint. To resolve your complaint, EWOV needs to disclose your personal information to your provider.

We may also need to disclose your personal information to other people who may be able to assist in the investigation – for instance, an independent technical adviser. In these instances, we will discuss it with you beforehand.

EWOV reports to regulators, the public and other stakeholders about our activities. However, this information is always de-identified. If we do believe it is necessary to provide your personal information to another organisation, or if an organisation requests your personal information following a de-identified report by EWOV, we will always ask you for permission before providing this.

Authorised parties

You may wish to have someone act on your behalf in dealing with EWOV. EWOV will not disclose any details of your complaint to anyone other than yourself unless you have authorised this to occur. If you wish to have someone act on your behalf, or have EWOV provide information about your complaint to someone else, the Conciliator handling your complaint will arrange for you to authorise this. We will generally need you to complete and sign a written authority form.

Access to your information

EWOV will provide you with access to your personal information on request, unless one of the exceptions in the NPPs applies. If you wish to gain access to the personal information EWOV holds about you, you can make a request to the Conciliator handling your complaint.

Or, you may send a written request for access to:

The Privacy Manager (Case Handling)
EWOV
GPO Box 469
Melbourne 3001
Email: ewovinfo@ewov.com.au

Please be as specific as possible about what information you are seeking, to assist us in reviewing your request.

To access a copy of EWOV’s full Privacy Policy, please click here.

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