Are you ready to pay potentially $7 or more a day for water services?
- NZ Empowered
- 10 hours ago
- 4 min read
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.
Mayor - peri.zee@uhcc.govt.nz, Deputy Mayor - corey.white@uhcc.govt.nz
Councillors - matt.carey@uhcc.govt.nz, gurpreet.dhillon@uhcc.govt.nz, bill.hammond@uhcc.govt.nz, emma.holderness@uhcc.govt.nz, tracey.ultra@uhcc.govt.nz, dave.wheeler@uhcc.govt.nz
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:
