We’ve noticed things aren’t going quite according to the original plan for the Water Company.

We’ve noticed things aren’t going quite according to the original plan for the Water Company.

We also noticed there are only 8 more public monthly meetings scheduled before the new Water Company is due to be up and running next July, and, so many people know so little about what is going to be happening and how things will work.

We also see there have been a number of questions being asked about what has happened with mock billing for water rates. These were due to be in letterboxes for people with water meters in July 2026, but they have not been delivered.

People may remember our team had been to a few Water Company meetings earlier in the year, just before the first Chairman of the Board left quietly. Our team noticed the traffic light system being used in the board information packs to show whether the development of the new company was on track.

A green colour indicated all was good and on track, amber and red did not. There were a number of amber and red categories and the Board were asking for more detailed information about what was causing the issues and delays.

We did an update on our website on 25th April about the issues being raised in a meeting. The story is here if you haven’t seen it:

https://www.npratepayers.nz/blog/2247633

So, fast forward to a new Water Company Chairman and Chief Executive and we see some of the timeline for the set up of the new company, and expectations set for ratepayers and future water consumers, are not able to be met.

There are still a number of amber and red coloured categories in the Board information packs in the latest meeting.

The new Chief Executive, Brent Manning, has only been on board since early September, and it appears that aspects of the timeline of work that needed to be done in the 9 months from November 2025 to August 2026 has not gone according to plan. (Perhaps an ex-Mayor without a great deal of Chief Executive experience was not the best fit for an interim senior role at the Water Company ?)

We have attached a copy of a letter from the Chairman of the Water Company, Anthony Wilson, to the NPDC Mayor and Councillors outlining the issues with mock billing and pricing, and a recommendation of how to approach the circumstances the company finds they are operating within.

This is also a quote from the NPDC General Manager of Finance on the NPDC website – outlining the reason for the change to mock invoices:

“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.”

This is a link to an earlier NPDC website update for the Water Company mock water bills – and also has some general information about how the Water Company intended to handle things:

https://www.npdc.govt.nz/.../water-billing-and-mock-bills/

At the NPDC meeting on Wednesday 21st October the Mayor and Councillors voted to adopt the recommendation from the Water Company Chairman. Mock bills won’t be produced. Instead, people will receive a notification of their water usage amount, and education will be done on what “average” use looks like and whether the total on your notification may suggest you have a leak on your property.

If a leak is found inside the boundary of a property it is the homeowner’s responsibility to repair the leak. If leaks aren’t fixed, from July 2027 the water costs of those leaks will be charged when the real water bills start.

P.S An interesting tidbit from the Water Company letter was that so far 2.5 million litres a day of leakage has been found from New Plymouth pipes and 200 leaks have been repaired.