Water meter charging

The Council owns and installs water meters and is responsible for their maintenance including any upgrades.

Charging for water for properties yet to have a meter installed will be on the same basis it is now – a combination of a fixed charge and the CV of the property.

It is hoped to install remaining meters by the end of the three-year transition period.

The meters have been tracking usage since installation. This has helped to identify leaks and give Council better information about water use.

New readings will be taken at the start of the new charging approach so you will only be charged based on your water meter reading from 1 July 2025.

All water that passes through a water meter will be charged for, including all leaks and wasted water. If your meter is tracking more water than you think you are intentionally using, it could mean you have a leak.

There are some simple checks you can make:

• Read the meter at night once all taps are off and then again first thing in the morning, prior to any water use. This will tell you how much has leaked overnight.
• Check for damp patches in the garden or driveway during dry weather.
• Look for patches of lawn that are green no matter how dry it has been.

You may need to contact a plumber to help find and fix leaks on your property.

Property owners own the pipes on their property and are responsible for fixing leaks. The cost of supplying water would increase dramatically if Council accepted this responsibility. Where a shared pipe is in place servicing a number of properties, the owners would share responsibility for maintenance.

See support available question below.

The Council is proposing to offer some financial support to those who need it:

• Water charge remission: Waiving volume charges for households experiencing financial hardship who have incurred high water use charges. This is aimed at supporting low-income households with many people living in them.
• Cost of fixing leaks: Up to $300 to help households in financial hardship who have had to pay to get a leak fixed.
• Water loss from leaks: Waiving some of the volume charges for ratepayers who have incurred excess charges due to a water leak provided it has been repaired promptly and other criteria are met.

See the proposed excerpt for the Rates Remission Policy for more information.

The first year of the transition aims to reduce water use among the highest users, so those using over 4,400 litres per day can expect an increase in their bill.

In future years, as the allocated water limit is lowered and the use of Capital Value (CV) is phased out, more properties will be impacted. How properties are impacted will depend on their CV and water usage:

• Currently, two similar residential properties with the same CV pay the same amount regardless of their water use. By the end of the transition, the property that uses more water will pay more.
• Currently, two residential properties with different CVs that use the same amount of water pay different amounts, with higher CV properties paying more. By the end of the transition, these properties would pay the same since they have the same water usage.

Impacts for example properties are provided in Appendix 1 of the Consultation Document.

When trying to save water think about the five Rs:

• Reduce – look for ways to use less water
• Repair – fix leaks fast
• Replace – when renovating or building, choose the most water efficient appliances that you can
• Retrofit - Change your current appliances water efficiency by adding a feature that doesn’t limit performance but reduces water use
• Reuse - catch rainwater or greywater (from the shower) and use for pot plants or the garden.

The Council is taking action to make sure our community is resilient when it comes to water, and we are acting on that:

• We are working together with the other Wairarapa councils and Greater Wellington Regional Council to implement the Wairarapa Water Resilience Strategy.
• We are undertaking a water renewals programme to detect and remediate leaks in our pipes.
• We have more water storage planned. This includes constructing larger raw water storage ponds at the Kaituna water treatment plant and a new reservoir for the storage of treated water.
• Through the District Plan review, we have considered options and tools to support water conservation and resilience. For example, the proposed plan includes domestic water storage requirements.
• We are implementing other strategies and plans to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Local Water Done Well is the Government’s plan to address New Zealand’s long-standing water infrastructure challenges. It recognises the importance of local decision-making in communities, and provides councils with a framework to determine how their water services will be delivered in the future.

There is a strong emphasis on meeting economic, environmental and water quality regulatory requirements. This includes a requirement for water services to be financially sustainable by mid-2028.

Councils must develop a Water Services Delivery Plan by 2025. The Plan must provide a long-term assessment of the Council’s water infrastructure, how much investment is needed, and how it will be financed and delivered through a preferred water service delivery model. The community will have a chance to have their say on proposed delivery models to inform the Plan in early 2025.

Whatever the shape of the water service delivery entity in the future, revenue, assets, expenses and debt for water services must be separated from all other Council services. The entity will not have rating powers, so will need to use other tools to raise revenue.

Water meters provide a way to charge for water services based on usage, rather than through rates. Meters also deliver on environmental outcomes by encouraging more efficient water usage. More efficient use also means expensive assets like treatment plants can do the job for longer, which saves money down the track.

Changing the approach now is one way the Council can support the community towards economic and environmental outcomes that align with the Government’s requirements.

The three-year transition approach gives property owners time to repair any leaks, and for the installation of water meters on properties not yet metered.

The transition approach also enables the Council to monitor the impacts of the change on the community and its revenue, and make adjustments as needed to respond to how people change their behaviour once volume charges are introduced.