An electricity, gas or water company may not issue a bill when it is required to, or the bill may not include charges for all the electricity, gas or water you’ve used. This is often called undercharging. When this happens, the electricity, gas or water company may send you a back-bill (also called a catch-up bill) to recover the amounts you owe from a previous period (undercharged amounts).

Back-bills can be caused by several factors including:

• Your previous bill had an error.
• Your previous bill was delayed and your energy or water company did not issue you with a bill on time.
• Your previous bill was based on estimated usage and the estimate was less than what you actually used. Estimated bills are issued when an actual meter read couldn’t be done with your meter.
• Your previous bill was based on an incorrect meter reading.

There are restrictions on how far back electricity, gas or water companies can back-bill or recover undercharged amounts.

Water:

• Water companies can back-bill you for the four months before you were told about the undercharging. Water companies can’t go back further than this unless the undercharging is from illegal use.
• Water companies must allow you extra time to pay the back-bill amount. You can pay over four months or you can ask for a flexible payment plan.

Urban and rural water companies who provide certain regulated services to customers, including small business customers, must comply with the standards and conditions of service required in the Water Industry Standards (esc.vic.gov.au/water/industry-standards-codes-and-guidelines/water-industry-standards).

Energy:

• Energy companies can back-bill you for the four months before you were told about the undercharging. Retailers can’t go back further than this unless the undercharging is your fault.
• Energy companies must offer you extra time to pay the back-bill amount. You can pay over a period equal to the time you were undercharged, unless you were undercharged for more than 12 months. If you were undercharged for more than 12 months, the period you can pay over will usually be a maximum of 12 months.

Small business and residential energy customers who purchase energy principally for personal, household or domestic use, or who use less than 40 MWh of electricity or 1000 GJ of gas in a year are covered by the Energy Retail Code of Practice (esc.vic.gov.au/electricity-and-gas/codes-guidelines-and-policies/energy-retail-code-practice).

Energy retailers and water companies must notify and refund you in the following timeframes:

Water:

• If your water company overcharges you, it must tell you within 10 business days of being aware of the error. You can choose to have this refunded or credited to your account.

Energy:

• If the overcharge amount is equal to or more than $50: The retailer must tell you about the overcharge within 10 business days of being aware of the error. You can tell the retailer how you want that amount repaid, otherwise, it will be credited to your next bill.
• Less than $50: The overcharged amount will be credited to your next bill.

If you are no longer a customer, the retailer must use its best endeavours to refund you within 10 business days. If you are at fault for the overcharge, a retailer may limit the amount they refund you.

Security deposits: if you have a standard retail contract and you were required to pay a security deposit, the retailer must repay you the security deposit with accrued interest, within 10 business days after you:

• complete one year's payment (for residential customers) or two years' payment (for small business customers) by the pay-by dates for your bills, or
• vacate the property, request disconnection or transfer to another retailer if the security deposit is not required to settle the final bill.

For customers on market contracts, your contract will outline how the security deposit is to be refunded.

What can go wrong?

Your payment may get ‘lost in the system’ if:

• there are problems with the transfer of online payments from the bank/agency to the electricity, gas or water company
• the company has a problem with its billing system
• there was a change to your account, such as the payment details or account number.

An energy retailer or water company might owe you money if:

• you were overcharged on a previous bill
• reconciliation of a bill-smoothing payment plan results in you being owed a refund
• a security deposit you paid some time ago is due to be returned.

You might owe money and be back-billed if:

• there was an error in the previous bill
• your company had problems with its billing process and has not been able to issue you with a bill for some time
• your last bill, or last few bills, were estimated and the estimate was less than what you actually used in these cases, you may be able to submit a self-meter read — see our Estimated Bills fact sheet – ewov.com.au/fact-sheets/estimated-bills – for more information.
• your last bill was based on an incorrect meter reading
• there was a problem with the reading process for your Smart Meter, solar bi-direction meter or interval meter (these meters automatically send your usage data to your energy distributor, who passes this on to your retailer).

What are my rights?

The Energy Retail Code of Practice (esc.vic.gov.au/electricity-and-gas/codes-guidelines-and-policies/energy-retail-code-practice) and Water Industry Standards (Urban and Rural) (esc.vic.gov.au/water/codes-and-guidelines/water-industry-standards) set out the rules that apply when you have been overcharged for a payment or back-billed.

Need further help? If you receive a back-bill or have other payment issues, first contact your energy retailer or water company. If you’re not happy with its response, contact us – we’re here to help!