From 1 July 2026, water services in Upper Hutt will be delivered by a new organisation called Tiaki Wai.

Tiaki Wai will deliver drinking water, wastewater and reticulated stormwater services across the metropolitan Wellington area.

Council will continue to deliver all other council services as usual.

What this means for your bill

Water services rates will be removed from your Council rates bill.

You’ll instead receive:

• One rates bill from Upper Hutt City Council for council services
• One separate, additional bill from Tiaki Wai for water services charges

More information will be available in the coming months. Until then, you can find out more at: https://www.tiakiwaimetro.co.nz/

Other important information: (From Radio New Zealand)

Changes to paying your bills.

When paying your bills from the 1st of July, there will now be two bills to pay instead of one – as can be seen above. If paying by direct debit, you’ll need to set up a second payment system for this. If paying in person at the council building, you’ll be making two payments instead of one.

Increasing charges

Chair of Tiaki Wai, Will Peet said, in the long term, charges would be going up. “We’re [dealing with] a lot of underinvestment over the last number of decades. So water charges are going to be going up.” From new pipes to investing in treatment plants, he said there was a lot of work to be done on the network, and that would mean increased costs. With that investment in the network, he warned there would also come some disruption. “If we’re going to be replacing water pipes in people’s streets as opposed to going after leaks, then there’s going to be some disruption. But people will also see the dividend, if you like, of that disruption being a less leaky, more reliable network.” Tiaki Wai would be proceeding with water meters in the next few years.

Why are there going to be water meters?

Peet said at the moment around 40 percent of water was lost before it reached households.

Water meters, he said, would help identity leaks.

“Until we get water meters around the houses, we won’t know where all the leaks are.”

He expected many of those leaks would be on private property.

Water meters would also provide more understanding on people’s water usage.

“We haven’t set a specific deadline, but we need to get on with it.”

Peet said it was a matter of “measure what you treasure”.

The mayor’s statement

“The challenge for Tiaki Wai is to meet increased regulatory standards, catch up on decades of underinvestment and provide for growth while keeping water charges affordable,” she said.

Source: Upper Hutt City Council / Radio New Zealand (RNZ)

03/02/26