South East Water is working with its community to promote customer care services and generate trust and understanding among its multicultural and multiethnic customers.
There’s nothing quite like the dread of an overdue bill. For many Australians, choosing between paying for water, rent or groceries becomes a monthly battle. ? South East Water decided it was time to discover how it could better assist those doing it tough.
Enter Paige-Elise Galloway, South East Water’s Community Manager, Bree Sharman, Brand and Marketing Manager and Ashlee Rayner, Customer Care and Solutions Manager.
The trio strongly believes in proactive engagement and led an affordability campaign to address high customer debt in Cranbourne and its surrounding postcodes.
However, rather than just sending more notices or ramping up call centre activity, it opted for a different strategy: engaging with the community where they were at.
“At times, we need greater visibility and presence in the community to foster trust with our customers, ensuring they feel comfortable reaching out to us,” Galloway said. “This is particularly important for customers who may come from other countries where failing to pay a bill could have serious repercussions or where they may not understand the systems we have in place here.”
By embedding themselves directly into the community, South East Water wanted to remove barriers to engagement.
“If people aren’t coming to us, there’s a chance they’re building up debt across the board,” Rayner said. “That puts them in a financially vulnerable position.”
Another significant barrier was awareness.
“Customers can often be deterred from taking up financial assistance because of barriers such as low awareness and perceived application complexity. This was important for us to address,” Sharman said.
More than sending reminders
A one-size-fits-all approach was never going to cut it. Instead, South East Water developed a two-pronged strategy, combining a robust marketing campaign with deeply embedded community engagement.
“We undertook stakeholder mapping and then worked with council and community groups to understand the need,” Galloway said.
“We were fortunate to partner with Casey North Community Information and Support Services, who provide free financial counselling within the City of Casey and have extensive waiting lists.”
By working with this existing service, South East Water was able to understand that women who speak Dari (a key language of Afghanistan) were a key group needing financial support information.
The response? The utility developed translated information, culturally appropriate messaging and hired bicultural workers to present video content – supporting both community and the community group with additional literacy assets.
“Our engagement model asks that we empower the community in our design, so we worked with the Southern Migrant Refugee Centre’s bicultural workers program,” Galloway said. “The presenters of our videos are from that program. The videos we’ve created also serve as ongoing support material for Casey North Community Information and Support Services and its clients.”
This isn’t just about debt—it’s about dignity. By ensuring financial literacy among diverse communities, South East Water fosters a proactive engagement culture. They are working towards long-term trust, so customers don’t just reach out in times of crisis but see the utility as a partner in financial stability.
Spreading the word
Traditional community outreach efforts were boosted across multiple channels.
“We ran a multi-channel program to connect with customers in and around their local area. Our messaging could be seen at the Casey Kids Carnival, on digital screens at local shopping centres and social media platforms as well as in emails, website content, letterbox drops and messaging in bills,” Sharman said.
The campaign sought to shift the conversation from punitive debt collection to proactive financial support.
“We want a sustainable payment culture for our customers,” Sharman said.
South East Water provides a range of payment support options such as extensions and payment plans.
“We wanted to show we have support options that are easy to access and can be tailored based on individual needs,” Sharman added.
The shift from reactive to proactive assistance is already yielding positive results. Over 40,000 customers acted on support options following both the Cranbourne local area and broader financial hardship campaigns, including payment extensions, concessions, and hardship programs
A model for the future
South East Water isn’t stopping at Cranbourne. The long-term goal is to embed this model into other local government areas, ensuring no community is left behind.
“This is just the beginning,” Rayner said. “The cost of living is rising, and more customers will need support. We want to encourage them to engage with us early to prevent financial hardship before it becomes unmanageable.”
The challenge now is to scale up. With more than 200 languages spoken across South East Water’s service region, tailoring solutions for different cultural groups won’t be easy, but the groundwork is being established.
Future campaigns will likely expand on the insights gained from this initiative.
“We’re looking at how we can refine our approach, adapt to new challenges, and ultimately create a more resilient customer base,” Rayner said. “We’ve softened our messaging around affordability – rather than just receiving a bill, customers are getting another communication touchpoint highlighting the support available.”
The water industry has long been an essential service, but South East Water is proving its role extends beyond infrastructure. By investing in targeted affordability campaigns, it is setting a precedent for proactive customer care—one that other utilities may soon follow.
“We wanted to develop a model that could be adapted across different communities,” Rayner said.
For South East Water, the message is clear: when affordability is at stake, community collaboration is not just a strategy but a necessity.
“It’s not just about one postcode—we need to ensure all our customers feel supported.”
For more information, visit southeastwater.com.au
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