Water charges up for further Council consideration

Residential volumetric water supply charges will be reconsidered by New Plymouth District Council at an extraordinary meeting next week.

In August last year, NPDC approved a fully volumetric charging structure for residential drinking water supply, to replace the existing annual fixed charge that is currently part of rates. 

Wai Hononga Water Services Ltd, which will assume responsibility for NPDC’s drinking and wastewater services in July next year, is developing its future approach to water charging, including proposed changes to the charging structure.

Elected members will consider whether to amend the resolution made last year to reflect the future role and current thinking around water charging for Wai Hononga. 

Volumetric charges approved in August 2025 were to be used in residential mock water bills, due to be rolled out later this month for 12 months of water usage. These have been paused in case changes are required to the billing format subject to the Council’s decision on the charging structure.

NPDC General Manager Finance and Planning John Scott says it's important to get this right and ensure the eventual approach is clear, fair and supports the long-term sustainability of our water services.

“Mock water billing was intended to show homeowners how much water their household had used and indicate what that would cost from 1 July 2027. The last thing we want to do is give a misleading picture when the charging structure might change under Wai Hononga,” says John.

Elected members will also consider:

• Whether properties sharing a meter should have the option to divide water charges evenly among all properties connected to that meter, or that shared meter to remain on a fixed annual charge.
• Whether to have mock billing in April/May and July/August 2027, once the indicative water charging structure and tariff (the cost per cubic metre of water) has been shared or continuing with mock billing as originally approved by the Council last year.
• Or whether to change the mock water bills to water use statements that contain no indicative costs, or to leave mock billing to Wai Hononga to implement from July next year. 

Regardless of any decisions, NPDC will continue to send out notices to advise residential property owners of probable water leaks at their properties so that they have time to repair them before actual billing starts.

Read the agenda here

The meeting is scheduled from 1.30pm, Wednesday 21 October and will be streamed on the council meeting section of our website.

At a glance:

• From July 2027 the district’s water supply and wastewater services will be managed by the council-controlled organisation Wai Hononga Water Services, while the stormwater service will remain with NPDC.
• Currently the average residential rates bill includes annual fixed charges of $1,606 for wastewater and drinking water supply ($807 for wastewater and $799 for water supply every year).
• NPDC has installed more than 30,000 water meters at residential properties across the district in the last 3.5 years.
• We have identified more than 900 leaks in the last three months from private and public infrastructure, which have been fixed.
• Since the start of the installation project, we have saved about 2.6 million litres of water per day – that’s more than the combined daily demand for Inglewood, Ōakura and Okato.
•  NPDC looks after more than 2,000km of water network pipes, four water treatment plants, and more than 3,600 fire hydrants across the district.