Shareholder

The shareholder’s role is to appoint the Board of Directors, set expectations and ensure we deliver safe, reliable, and affordable water services in line with national standards and local priorities.

The shareholder role

The shareholder (NPDC) has a set of formal responsibilities that ensure water services remain publicly owned, transparent, and aligned with community needs.

Key responsibilities include:

1. Appointing Directors

2. Setting expectations through the Statement of Expectations (SOE)

3. Monitoring performance and compliance
   
   

The shareholder monitors us to ensure we meet obligations under:

• The Water Services Regulations - which require all suppliers to provide safe drinking water, maintain monitoring systems, and comply with national standards.
• Drinking Water Quality Assurance Rules - which define how we sample, test, and report water quality.
• Wastewater environmental performance standards, monitored by Taumata Arowai.
• Local Water Done Well - which sets enduring arrangements for water services, including financial management, transparency, and economic regulation frameworks.

This monitoring ensures that we act in the public interest and deliver services safely and responsibly.

Public ownership & asset stewardship

Because we are publicly owned, all assets - pipes, plants, reservoirs, and land - ultimately belong to the people of New Plymouth District.

Our shareholder ensures that:

• Assets remain publicly owned
• Long‑term planning prioritises community wellbeing
• Investments are affordable and transparent
• No profits are extracted from water services
• Decisions consider intergenerational outcomes

This is consistent with the New Zealand model in which CCOs operate without profit‑making and emphasise long‑term infrastructure stewardship.