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Are you ready to pay potentially $7 or more a day for water services?

  • NZ Empowered
  • Feb 1
  • 5 min read

Updated: Feb 15

Click on the blue underlined words to go to the links.



Almost double what you pay now and in the next 10 years potentially $14 per day. A renter not going to affect me…Disabled require more water usage, pensioners or fixed income, tenants are you ready for your landlords to be passing this on to you in your rent as we believe we know this happens. Businesses passing on costs in increases in their goods and services,  and potentially community organisation being hit also.. If you are concerned , Read on to understand things are at with our water.  Will there be like a rates rebate for water?  Concessions for those struggling.

 

Many have voted this council and mayor in based on the promise of transparency and community inclusion. This is a chance for us to engage with council to see if these were hollow words or words of action. We have had a mayor who has had meetings on CBD revitalisation and disabilities during her campaign and Crime in the CBD. Will she, and her councillors now run similar session/s on water?

 

8 Councillors including our Mayor voted to continue with the foundation documents for Metro Water on the 11th Dec 2025. We believe you do not vote on something you do not understand when voting on behalf of the community you serve. So they should understand and have many of the answers to what you should or want to know with only a few months to go till Metro Water is live. Those who voted against moving forward were Cr Swales, Cr Welch and Cr Mcleod.

 

 

The 8 councillors have voted to proceed based on what has been presented as a lot of “should, intention and assumptions”. Contracts 101in our opinion - You read and understand the final wording of a contract before signing. Our question is how many of the councillors actually understood what WILL happen before voting on our Communities behalf before proceeding.  Could they have deferred voting until the final docs were writtin.  Yes.

 

These councillors voted to move forward we would suggest approaching these for answers should you require clarifications.

 

Our council has directed the community to https://www.tiakiwaimetro.co.nz/ for more info.  Have a look and see if your questions are answered here.

 

At this stage Upper Hutt will have 1 elected member to speak on Upper Hutt's behalf. Where other cities it appears will have 2 or more. Iwi will not have voting rights from what we understand as they are nor a shareholder in the organisation.


The picture above also shows the reported condition of Upper Hutt's pipes compared with other councils in the region. Upper Hutt seems to have one of the best kept pipes in the region. So as part of Metro Water, Upper Hutt will be paying for the repair and replacement of these other pipes.



Also attached is a snap from a conversation we had with our mayor during the elections where she was going to put up an article and maybe a video on water. From our understanding this did not occur. (Please take note this is not a get at our mayor, it is facts and we believe the time has come when our council need to be providing more relevant information about what is coming so people can prepare.)

 



Some questions we have or have been asked are:


  • How will this work from a charging for water perspective?

  • When will the water meters be added and when will volumetric charging come in?

  • How will this work if I am a renter as not clear if there is a difference if 1 person or 10 people are in a dwelling ?

  • How will this work if I have a disability that requires extra water

  • How will this work on a pension or low income

  • Will there be rebates for those on low incomes

 

Our suggestion is to email one elected member and cc in the rest and ask your questions on Water, Waste and Stormwater.



 Below are some links that may be of use to help with your questions.

 

Potential Charges

From one of the early pages in the Delivery plan.

"Average residential charges are forecast to rise from approximately $2,100 per connection today to between $5,700 (based on the target financial strategy of this WSDP) and $4,800 (based on the lower-end financial scenario) by 2034"

 

How Metro Water expect to be charging for Water, Waste and Stormwater. What hasn't been included is how this will be applied.

 

For Renters/Landlords

"In addition, the planned shift to volumetric charging may change who pays for some water services. Property owners will be liable for charges but may be able to on-charge renters for the volumetric part of charges under the terms of the Residential Tenancies Act. If landlords do not adjust rent to recognise any on-charging it may create new affordability challenges for a group of consumers who are more likely to be on lower incomes and already experiencing housing cost pressures."

 

What if I collect my own water

For those who are looking to collect their own water and avoid these charges, there is currently a clause in the councils Long Term Plan which states any dwelling within 100m of a town supply will be subject to a 50% charge whether connected or not.

 

  

Printable copy of this info: 

 


 

 

More Information and Articles


Water Loss

27th Jan 2025 - Original Link

Earlier in the month we posted about the water loss in the Wellington Water Network. Since then we have seen stats that the current regional water losses are around 41% down from 44%. Wellington Water have confirmed to us that the estimated water loss on the Public side of the Toby is 32% and that the Private side losses are 9%. Wellington Water provided this document which reflects the water losses.



So one has to ask, if the water loss from almost equivelant number of leaks on the private to public sides of the toby is so much different, why is there all of a sudden a focus on private leaks. Seems the number of leaks is not the best metric to be assessing urgency of remediation.


What you need to know about Tiaki Wai, the entity replacing Wellington Water (RNZ)



Wellington Mayor

ComCom weighs tougher powers over Wellington's water services

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/wellington/comcom-weighs-tougher-powers-over-wellingtons-water-services/?




Upper Hutt City Council Communication



Council Agenda with the Water Services Delivery Plan


Moa Point

Wellington's mayor can't say if ratepayers in the broader Wellington region will foot the bill for the failure of the Moa Point wastewater plant.https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/586379/questions-over-who-will-pay-for-wellington-s-sewage-plant-failure




RNZ Article about who will pay for Moa Point



We believe this has come about with the knowledge and pressure that the community is putting on the officals.

Looking at the Tiaki Wai documents we believe the "Cost to Serve" statement which Ken Laban is talking about is in Section 18 of the Foundation Documents.

Our opinion is that at best, these documents are wishy washy with assumptions, expectations or intentions instead of actuals and things which are definate. We question how can this could be voted on and passed in its current state. But it was.

We bought this up in our submissions to UHCC, but believe thanks to the social media and potentially emails which have been sent, this is coming to the surface. In our opinion, it needs to be dealt with!

Hopefully this will help and push councils to be more engaged and open with their communities.


Have a read and see how you interpret the "Cost to Serve" statement.






NZ Empowered Local Water Done Well Page






 


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