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Bring Your Bills — guide for community members

Bring Your Bills events are free. You walk in — no appointment, no booking needed. Bring your energy, water, or phone/internet bills and friendly workers will sit down with you and help.

Getting to the website

Open your internet browser (Safari, Chrome, Edge — whatever you normally use) and type this into the address bar at the top:

bringyourbills.org.au

then press Enter. That's the home page — it shows the next upcoming event, then a scrollable list of every other planned event, and below those it explains what to bring and what happens on the day. On a phone the events come first, so you can pick one without scrolling.

Bring Your Bills is a statewide service. The big card at the top is just whichever event is soonest, which is often in Melbourne's south east if that's not near you, look at the "Other planned events" list below it, or open the full list or the map.

Reading the site in your language

The BYB Helper button at the bottom right of every page opens a small chat window. At the top of that window there is a language box. Choose your language and the assistant will write to you in it. You can pick:

العربية (Arabic) · دری (Dari) · هزارگی (Hazaragi) · ਪੰਜਾਬੀ (Punjabi) · 简体中文 (Simplified Chinese) · தமிழ் (Tamil) · Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese) · English

It remembers your choice on that device, so you only pick once.

Two things to know. The assistant can tell you about events, what to bring and how the day works, but it cannot give advice about your bills. And it is not an interpreter: interpreters are people, they are at every event, and you only have to ask at the front desk. The rest of the website is in English for now.

Please don't type your name, phone number, address or account numbers into the chat. It will stop the message and tell you so, in your language.

The pages and what they're for

You can get to all of these from the buttons and menu on the home page, or type the address directly:

Finding an event near you

1. Go to All planned events (bringyourbills.org.au/calendar.html).
2. At the top there's a box called "Find an event near you".
3. Type your postcode (for example 3175) and press Find nearest — the list of upcoming events reorders so the closest one is first, and each event shows how far away it is (for example "2.4 km away").
4. Or press "Use my location" and allow location access when your phone asks — same result, no typing.
5. Press Clear to go back to the normal date order.

Or use the map page to see everything as pins, and tap a pin for the event's details and directions.

Looking at one event

Every event has its own page with the full details — date, time, venue, address, and which services will be there to help. To see it, tap the event's "View event details" link on the calendar or map.

On an event's page (and on the calendar) you'll see these buttons:

• "Let us know you're coming" — tell us to expect you (see below).
• "Add to calendar" — downloads the event straight into your phone or computer's calendar app (Google, Apple, or Outlook calendar) so you get a reminder.
• "Get directions" — opens the venue in Google Maps.
• "View on map" — shows the event's pin on our map.

Telling us you're coming (optional!)

You do not need to register — walk-ins are always welcome. But if you tell us you're coming, we can plan enough staff and interpreters.

1. Press "Let us know you're coming". There is one on every event, on the home page and on the list of planned events, so you never have to go looking for it. Or go straight to bringyourbills.org.au/attend.html.
2. Pick which event you're coming to.
3. Everything else is optional:

• Your name, phone and email — you can leave all of these blank.
• How many people are coming with you.
• What you need help with — just tick boxes (energy bill, water bill, phone/internet, something else, not sure yet). You never have to write out your personal situation.
• Tick "I need an interpreter" and tell us the language if that would help.

1. There's a tick box asking if we can contact you about future events — this is entirely up to you, and only possible if you gave us a phone number or email.
2. Press the button at the bottom. Done!

Your details are never shown publicly, are only used to plan the event, and you can ask us to delete them any time by emailing byb@secl.org.au.

What to bring on the day

Bring your bills! The home page has the full list, but in short: any bills you're worried about (paper or on your phone), and a concession or health care card if you have one.

Need help or don't use the internet much?

Email byb@secl.org.au — or just come along on the day. Every event is free and walk-in; the website is only there to help you find one.