Water Bill Increases Likely as Once 3/5 Waters Entities Start to Bill Households Directly

December 13, 2022

The four new three waters entities will be able to directly bill households for their water use, in a way not dissimilar to how Aucklanders currently receive bills from Watercare. Those entities will be able to decide what those charges are and how they are calculated, within limits set out in this bill. Cabinet is likely to decide that existing arrangements for who pays for water services will remain in place: property owners would pay the bill, but landlords can pass on some charges to tenants.

The legislation also allows the entities to bill ratepayers for another service: stormwater, and to set growth charges for expanding their networks.

Officials, in a regulatory impact statement, warned some of these charges may be passed on to tenants in the form of higher rents, and that the rate of underinvestment could see prices rise substantially in the next few years - although the bill contains a provision to limit steep price increases in the first three years of operation.

Officials also warned that in the absence of tough regulation there was a “substantial risk” that “some prices could increase significantly … particularly given the extent of past underinvestment”.