About EWOQ

Supporting Queenslanders with independent, respectful and effective ways of resolving disputes with energy and water providers.

These are the beliefs and philosophies that drive EWOQ. They are the principles that impact the employee experience we deliver as well as the relationship we develop with our customers, partners, and shareholders

Respect

We act and interact with honesty and integrity—manners, respect and courtesy are a given.

Integrity

Our actions are consistent with our words and we demonstrate our values through our actions.

Competency

We encourage each other and seek opportunities to learn, and share our knowledge and ideas to continuously improve ourselves and our service.

Accountability

Each of us is accountable and responsible for our work, attitude and behaviours.

Excellence

We strive to be the best we can be and deliver excellent service and quality results.

The Energy and Water Ombudsman Queensland (EWOQ) was first established as the Energy Ombudsman Queensland (EOQ) on 1 July 2007, to provide a free, fair and independent dispute resolution service for small electricity and reticulated gas customers in Queensland. On 1 January 2011, EOQ became EWOQ as our jurisdiction expanded to also investigate disputes about water suppliers in South East Queensland.

Our primary functions are to:

• receive, investigate and facilitate the resolution of disputes between Queensland’s small energy customers and small water customers in South East Queensland, and their energy and water retailers and distributors
• promote our services throughout Queensland to those who may need our assistance
• identify systemic issues arising from complaints received from our customers.

We achieve this through a process that is free, fair, independent, accessible, accountable, effective and efficient. We take into account the rights and responsibilities of customers and scheme participants under relevant legislation, codes and standards to achieve a fair and reasonable outcome.

EWOQ was established under the Energy and Water Ombudsman Act 2006 to provide for investigation and resolution of particular disputes involving energy and water suppliers.

The Energy and Water Ombudsman is not subject to direction from anyone, however, must consider the advice of the Advisory Council to the Energy and Water Ombudsman in performing certain functions under the Act.

The executive management group assists the Ombudsman in delivering EWOQ’s strategic plan and the day-to-day operations of the business.

Each year, we develop a four-year strategic plan that guides our work and confirms our vision for the office.

During 2020-21, our key priorities included:

• implementing a new cloud-based telephony system
• introducing live web chat on the new website
• launching the member portal to improve communication with scheme participants
• reviewing our dispute resolution process to continuously improve customer experience
• improving our stakeholder engagement and community outreach programs
• contributing to public policy through insights and submissions
• continuing preparations to expand our services in the energy market, including embedded network customers.

Read a review of our performance against the strategic plan.