The Drought Relief from Electricity Charges Scheme (DRECS) provides relief from supply charges on electricity accounts that are used to pump water for farm or irrigation purposes.

Financial assistance is available to account holders who do not have access to, or have severely restricted access to, farm or irrigation water in drought-declared areas, or properties that have been individually drought-declared.

Details of the DRECS are set out in a Queensland Government gazette notice.

Application process - Ergon Energy customers

Ergon Energy customers that are drought-declared may apply for a waiver of supply charges and/or a deferral of payment of electricity accounts relating to pumping water for farm or irrigation by contacting Ergon Energy on 13 10 46 or completing Ergon Energy's drought relief application form.

Application process - customers of other energy providers

All other drought-declared customers may apply for reimbursement of supply charges through the Department of Energy and Public Works, using the application process below.

Step 1: Check your eligibility.

To be eligible for reimbursement under DRECS you must both:

• be a farmer of a property that has been individually drought-declared or is within a drought-declared area.
• be experiencing disruptions to pumping water for farming or irrigation (i.e., have no water or water availability is severely restricted within the billing period).

Step 2: Complete the application form.

Complete the online application form: Application form

Alternatively, contact us to request a hard copy of the application form by:

email droughtrelief@epw.qld.gov.au

phone 13 43 87.

Note: Make sure to read and agree to the terms and conditions before you complete your application.

Step 3: Attach your supporting documents.

Attach your supporting documents (including a copy of your electricity bill and a copy of the statutory declaration if required).

Electricity bills

To be eligible you must submit a relevant bill within 6 months of the date of issue of the bill from your retailer, for which relief is being claimed.

You can apply for reimbursement of supply charge components by lodging either:

• singular bills: 1 application for each time a separate account is received and paid (e.g. monthly or quarterly bill) or
• multiple bills: claims relating to more than 1 bill at a time.

Supporting information

Eligible customers using non-farm or irrigation tariffs are required to provide a statutory declaration stating that the connection is being used primarily for pumping water for farm or irrigation purposes.

The connection must be identified in the customer's statutory declaration either using unique meter identifier (i.e., the National Metering Identifier) or account number on the electricity bill.

If the connection has other uses, other than water pumping, have private use (i.e., not water pumping), the approximate proportion of electricity normally used for pumping water for farm or irrigation purposes when not drought declared must be stated in the statutory declaration. Customers are required to provide a new statutory declaration if their circumstances have changed.

Step 4: Submit your application.

Submit your online application or send your completed application form to:

Email: droughtrelief@epw.qld.gov.au

Post: 

Drought Relief from Electricity Charges Scheme

Energy Division

Department of Energy and Public Works

PO Box 2457

CITY EAST QLD 4002

Step 5: Receive your reimbursement.

We will verify and process your application and reimburse amounts via electronic funds transfer (EFT).

Notes about DRECS reimbursement

An eligible customer is entitled to the reimbursement of the following supply charge components of their electricity account (excluding minimum demand charges).

The charges include all of the following:

• supply charges for tariffs used for pumping water.
• service fees, including metering charges.
• minimum payments.

Provided the drought declaration remains operative, the reimbursement applies to all eligible supply charge components applicable to any account used for pumping water for farm or irrigation purposes. The reimbursement continues to apply until the drought declaration is revoked.

Contact us.

For enquiries about the scheme, email droughtrelief@epw.qld.gov.au or phone 13 43 87.