Governance & Policies

This page provides information about our governance framework and policies.

Governance

The Board of Energy and Water Ombudsman (Western Australia) Limited is the governing body of the Energy and Water Ombudsman Western Australia.

It comprises seven directors: an independent chair, three customer representative directors, a gas industry representative director, an electricity industry representative director and a water industry representative director.

Read more about the Board here.

Details of the membership, responsibilities and operations of the Board are documented in the Energy and Water Ombudsman (Western Australia) Limited Constitution, and Charter of the Energy and Water Ombudsman (Western Australia) Limited, which are provided further down this page.

Energy and Water Ombudsman

The Western Australian Ombudsman performs the functions of the Energy and Water Ombudsman Western Australia under a services agreement with the Board.

The Energy and Water Ombudsman Western Australia has an Executive Management Group (EMG) made up of the Energy and Water Ombudsman and the Deputy Energy and Water Ombudsman.

The Energy and Water Ombudsman Western Australia utilises the governance structures of the Western Australian Ombudsman, including an Audit and Risk Management Committee.

The costs of the Energy and Water Ombudsman Western Australia are met by providers who are members of the Energy and Water Ombudsman Scheme. See full details of who the members are on the Service provider contacts page.

Strategic Plan 2021-2023

Click on the link below to download the Energy and Water Ombudsman Western Australia Strategic Plan 2021-2023:

Strategic Plan 2021-2023 (PDF 967KB) PDF icon

Charter and Constitution

Click on the links below to download the Energy and Water Ombudsman Western Australia Charter and Constitution documents:

Charter of the Energy and Water Ombudsman November 2013 (PDF 142KB) PDF icon

Energy and Water Ombudsman Constitution November 2015 (PDF 497kB) PDF icon

Privacy Policy

The Energy and Water Ombudsman Western Australia is committed to the open and transparent management of your personal information and to adhering to the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth).

We will only collect, retain, use and disclose your personal information in accordance with these principles, as set out in our Privacy Policy (PDF 112kB) PDF icon

Scope

Our Privacy Policy provides you with information about how we will comply with the Privacy Act 1988, including:

  • The kinds of personal information we collect and hold;
  • How we collect and hold personal information;
  • The purposes for which we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information;
  • Whether we are likely to disclose personal information to overseas recipients, and if we are likely to, the countries in which such recipients are likely to be located;
  • How you may access your personal information that we hold and seek to correct any incorrect personal information; and
  • How you may complain about us breaching the APPs and how we will deal with such a complaint.
Collection of personal information

We collect your personal information to enable us to resolve your complaint about an electricity, gas or water services provider.

This includes your name, address, contact details, your account details and other relevant information.

We may collect your personal information from you in person, by telephone or through written information or forms that you submit to us, including online forms. Other information we may collect and how we collect it is explained in our Privacy Policy.

Use and disclosure (sharing)

Personal information that is provided to us is used primarily for the purpose of resolving and investigating complaints. It may also be used for other purposes such as:

  • Investigating and reporting systemic or emerging issues.
  • Maintaining and developing our services or systems including testing or upgrading of systems.
  • Staff training.

We will only disclose your personal information to enable us to resolve and investigate your complaint about an electricity, gas or water services provider.

This means we will disclose the information to the provider you complained about, and may disclose it to other people such as your representative or an independent expert in certain circumstances.

We may also use your personal information for reporting de-identified information or aggregated data. Further information on when we will and will not disclose your personal information and cross-border disclosure is explained in our Privacy Policy.

Right To access and correct your personal information

You have the right to access your personal information we hold, except in limited circumstances allowed by the APPs.

If you believe any personal information we hold is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date, you can ask us to correct the information. Your request will be handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Security and storage

We will take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss or unauthorised use, modification or disclosure.

We use a range of security measures to protect personal information, as explained in our Privacy Policy.

Complaints about our management of your personal information

If you have any questions, concerns or complaints about how we manage your personal information, please write to the Assistant Energy and Water Ombudsman using the contact details provided below.

Our Privacy Policy (PDF 112kB) PDF icon​ can also be made available in alternative formats to meet the needs of people with disability. Requests should be directed to communications@ombudsman.wa.gov.au.