Monday 4 May 2026

Upper Hutt people are getting more information about Tiaki Wai with their rates bills.

Tiaki Wai and Upper Hutt City Council have worked together to deliver a leaflet with posted rates bills, and online information for those who get their bill by email.

Tiaki Wai Board Chair Will Peet says recent engagement on the Tiaki Wai water services strategy showed strong public interest in the future of water services.

“Tiaki Wai is being established to fix long-standing, region-wide issues caused by decades of underinvestment in water infrastructure. 

“I get asked a lot about how Tiaki Wai will be different from Wellington Water. We are a new organisation with a clear mandate to get on with the job of funding and investing in renewing and building the infrastructure our region needs.

Wellington Water are caretakers, delivering Council decisions. Tiaki Wai will own the water assets on behalf of communities, and make decisions on where, when and how to invest.

“Over time, with the right level of investment, we aim to deliver improvements to water services – fewer leaks, more reliable services, and better outcomes for our environment.”

Will Peet says Tiaki Wai has heard concerns about the level of projected water services charges and is in the process of reviewing the proposed budget and investment plan for next year and the next decade.

Other issues that are coming up frequently include questions about council rates, ownership of Tiaki Wai, the process by which Tiaki Wai was established and the potential impact on specific groups, including rural residents and renters.

Here is some information to address these questions.

Rates
Council rates will reduce as water services charges are removed from the rates bill.  However, both council rates and Tiaki Wai water services charges will increase in 2026/27, meaning the total of both bills will be higher than the 2025/26 rates bill.

Setting water services charges
For the first year, the 2026/27 year, Tiaki Wai has inherited four different council systems for setting water services charges. Tiaki Wai plans in future to move to a fairer system, where charges are consistent for similar properties across all cities and are not linked to the capital value of a property.  This new ‘harmonised’ system will take some time to implement and there will be consultation before changes are made.

Ownership and accountability
Tiaki Wai is publicly owned by the shareholding councils and exists only to deliver water services to people in the region. Tiaki Wai is not a profit-making organisation and will be subject to oversight by the Commerce Commission and the Water Services Authority – Taumata Arowai. Tiaki Wai is governed by directors with strong commercial, technical and engineering expertise and has a Chief Executive with many years of experience in leading infrastructure reforms, including water services.

Establishment decision-making
The shareholding councils consulted with their communities last year (March/April 2025) on whether to establish a new water organisation. There was solid support for the preferred option across all councils, ranging from 69 to 84 percent of submissions in favour. Following that consultation, councils decided to proceed with setting up the new organisation, now known as Tiaki Wai.

Rural properties
People on rural properties that are not connected to networked water supply or wastewater services will not be charged for those services.  Stormwater charges will apply to ratepayers who are within a Tiaki Wai stormwater service zone – that is generally within urban boundaries or particular rural zoned intensive subdivision areas.  Other rural property owners will not be charged by Tiaki Wai for stormwater services.

Renters
A landlord is currently responsible for paying for water services via council rates, and that continues. From 1 July 2026 the landlord will be responsible for paying Tiaki Wai for water services – that is fixed charges for drinking water supply, wastewater and stormwater services.  If the property currently has a water meter, the landlord may may seek reimbursement of metered water charges from the tenant.  For more information visit Tenancy Services.  

Current water meters
Where a property currently has a water meter (mostly commercial properties) the property owner will continue to get a separate bill for water usage measured by the meter, as well as a bill for fixed water services charges.  Metered usage charges can be allocated and paid in the same way they have been, there is no need to do anything differently.

For further information

• Copies of the leaflet sent with rates bills are available from the Upper Hutt City Council customer service desk and local libraries.

• The Tiaki Wai website tiakiwai.co.nz has more information, including Frequently Asked Questions and more about billing.

A “thank you” to Tiaki Wai for sending this article to The Upper Hutt Connection.

05/05/26