Banks switches from user pays to dual charge

John Banks. Photo / The Aucklander

Super City mayoral contender John Banks says his policy of having two charging systems for water is not a political cop-out to avoid upsetting voters.

In the most intriguing policy announcement of the Super City election campaign, Mr Banks has promised to give Aucklanders the choice of user-pays, a fixed charge or a mix of the two for wastewater services.

Mr Banks and the right-leaning Citizens & Ratepayers ticket have come under pressure since it was revealed that adoption of the Auckland City user-pays system for water and wastewater services would add hundreds of dollars to the water bills of about 127,000 households in Waitakere, Manukau and North Shore.

Mr Banks, who a Herald-DigiPoll survey shows is neck-and-neck with Manukau Mayor Len Brown to be the first mayor of the Super City, has denied his water policy was politically motivated.

Mr Banks described the policy as visionary, saying he was going to abandon the Auckland City system he has supported in his two terms as mayor.

The new policy would be fair, equitable and would give Aucklanders choice on how they paid for the larger cost of wastewater disposal.

Water would continue to be charged on a user-pays basis, which already occurs across Auckland, he said.

"If you can buy your electricity and mobile phone minutes on a plan that best suits your needs, you should be able to do the same with wastewater."

Mr Brown said Mr Banks' water policy was a response to pressure and dissension within C&R ranks.

C&R candidate and former North Shore Mayor George Wood has spoken out against the ticket's general policy of user-pays for wastewater, which looks likely to be dropped to come in line with Mr Banks' policy.

Speaking at a mayoral debate organised by the Employers and Manufacturers Association yesterday, Mr Brown said some household water bills would increase $1000 a year under the Auckland City Council system.

Mr Brown is promoting Manukau's policy of a fixed charge for wastewater, even though it penalises low water users. The council had addressed the inequity, mainly to the elderly, through a rebate, he said.

North Shore Mayor Andrew Williams, another Super City mayoral contender, said he would not engage in the Auckland City Council's "smoke and mirrors" exercise of water price gouging to hold down rates.

"Other councils, like North Shore ... have not acted in that deceitful manner," he said.

Mr Banks' water policy would be a nightmare for the water council-controlled organisation, Watercare Services, which would have to set charges to set the budget before it knew which option customers would choose.

To get the lowest price, low water-users would be better off with user-pays for wastewater and large water-users better off with a fixed charge.

Under the current Auckland City charging, the smallest 5 per cent of water users could save about $360 a year from moving to user-pays and the largest 5 per cent of water users could save about $800 from moving to a fixed charge.