By SIMON HENDERY
Metrowater is wielding a fresh court ruling in its drawn-out battle with a group of illegally connected Auckland residents who refuse to pay wastewater charges.
In a judgment released this week, the Court of Appeal has reaffirmed Metrowater's right to bill homeowners for removal of wastewater.
But the ruling seems unlikely to sway the hard-core group of water rebels who refuse to pay the charges.
The policy was challenged by Jim Gladwin and Penny Bright - leaders of the militant Water Pressure Group, which organised flying squads to reconnect the water supplies of protesting members who were cut off after refusing to pay their full bills.
The couple argued in court that Metrowater had a legal obligation to provide water which they had paid for, despite their refusal to pay for disposal of the ensuing wastewater.
In a nine-paragraph written decision handed down on Tuesday, Justices Richardson, Henry and Blanchard upheld last December's High Court ruling that Metrowater's provision of goods and services fell under the Commerce Act.
The act supplanted the common-law doctrine of "prime necessity," which the Avondale couple said required a monopoly supplier to keep providing customers with a product or service they had paid for.
Mr Gladwin said last night that he had no intention of paying either his Metrowater bill or $5000 court costs awarded against the couple.
"I won't be paying them a cent and I don't care what it means.
"If I go to jail, or whatever, they're not going to get costs."
Metrowater spokeswoman Sharon Buckland said less than a dozen cut-off customers still had illegal connections to the company's supply and each owed the company several hundred dollars.
The company wanted to resolve the issue through negotiation, she said, but would consider legal action to recoup the money it was owed.
"Ultimately, if they get bloody-minded about it, we don't have a lot of choices.
"They can't have the supply for free."
The Water Pressure protest group has been fighting an increasingly militant battle with Metrowater since last year.
Group members have run a cat-and-mouse front-lawn plumbing battle with Metrowater contractors, reconnecting severed customer supply lines.
In May, police were called but decided not to lay charges after Auckland City councillor Phil Raffills smashed a window of a fire engine owned by the Water Pressure Group.
Metrowater has court backing in waste war
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