SA Water

The Hon. J.S. LEE (14:41): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Water and the River Murray a question about water meter replacement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: I might take my comment back.

The Hon. J.M.A. Lensink: He’s so mean.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: Yes, a bit mean. SA Water is currently sending out notification letters to residents about meter replacement, stating that their water meter will be replaced in the coming months. It explains that this is part of their routine meter replacement program which aims to help them continue to accurately record water consumption across South Australia.

A number of constituents, however, have contacted my office about a fundamental mistake made in these letters. They noticed that the customer account reference numbers, and the address listed on the subject line and within the body of the letter, do not match the name or the corresponding address of the owner of the property.

When constituents rang SA Water to inform the agency about the issue, the customer service officer said that it was a computer-generated letter, and there must be an error in the system. SA Water asked the customers to disregard the letter. My questions to the minister are:

1. Can the minister inform the chamber how many notification letters have been sent with the wrong identification of the property owner’s name and address throughout South Australia?

2. How can such a mistake occur, and how many customers’ records on SA Water’s database are affected?

3. How can consumers be confident that the right meter replacements are being carried out for the right properties?

4. Can the minister provide assurance that this mistake will be rectified immediately and that it will not cause further problems, such as wrong water meter recordings or wrong water bills being issued?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:43): I thank the honourable member for an excellent question—and indeed, she is an excellent member. SA Water issues courtesy notification letters to customers whose water meters are scheduled for replacement under its water meter replacement program.

On 12 September 2014, I am advised that SA Water sent letters to 2,618 customers to notify them of an impending water meter replacement. It is understood that these customers received the letters on approximately 16 September 2014. Within that mail-out, 1,646 customers with properties located in the Enfield area, I am advised, received letters detailing the incorrect customer account number and property location details. This an unfortunate error. Upon being notified of this error, however, SA Water has arranged for revised letters to be sent to those customers.

It has been noted that the error occurred when data was being transferred through databases used to prepare information for the mail merge—and I can vaguely understand what that might mean. It is an unfortunate error. SA Water have, however, picked up on it almost immediately that they were advised and they are currently investigating whether this area has potentially breached any of their customer service principles. They are addressing it as we speak. A full investigation has been initiated by SA Water to determine how the process can be improved, as the honourable member has asked, to ensure that this error is not a recurring one. I am advised that no further mail-outs will occur until the process improvements are put in place in regard to this matter.