Water bills to go up for some under Super City

Rodney Hide

Water bills will go up for some Aucklanders under the Super City plan, says Local Government Minister Rodney Hide.

Mr Hide has acknowledged there will be winners and losers in the move to a single company and "user-pays" pricing for water services.

"This may create some challenges to the public acceptability of the reforms," Mr Hide said in a Cabinet paper released by the Government.

The Government plans to merge the water and wastewater operations of the councils covered by the Super City plan into a single water company run on commercial lines.

The region has a single water wholesaler, Watercare Services, and the councils sell water at different prices. Wastewater services are paid for from rates, except in Auckland City and Papakura.

Mr Hide said it was clear that water and wastewater charges should be provided regionally to provide consistent standards and prices and enable the best decisions for infrastructure investments.

Charging for water and wastewater based on consumption would reduce demand and defer significant capital expenditure for up to 20 years.

"I do note that the moves from rates to volumetric charging for wastewater will create winners and losers by changing how much individual households and businesses pay for water services."

How many of Auckland's 504,000 ratepayers will face higher - or lower - water bills will not be known until the new water company is established and prices are set.

Mr Hide, a longtime critic of rising rates and advocate of capping rates increases to inflation, said moving to a single charge for water and wastewater needed to be considered alongside the move to a single rates bill.

When the Auckland Regional Council tried this approach in 2003, household rates rose by up to 467 per cent, leading to the rates revolt.

Introducing a single water company and user-pays for water services and a single rating system for Auckland is one of the biggest challenges facing the Super City council.

The first water and rates bills from the new Auckland Council will arrive in letterboxes in July 2011.

Mr Hide, the MP for Epsom, and Prime Minister John Key, the MP for Helensville, have been at pains not to promise any cost savings to ratepayers from the Government's plan.

A poll of 401 residents, conducted by Phoenix Research for Waitakere City Council, found 34 per cent supported the Government's plans and 47 per cent were opposed.

The figures for Waitakere residents in Mr Key's Helensville electorate were 34 per cent and 48 per cent.

The poll also found that 16 per cent of those surveyed favoured Government plans for 20 to 30 local boards subordinate to the Auckland Council, and 66 per cent favoured the recommendation from the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance for a main Super City council with six local councils under it.

Waitakere Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse said street protests and now the poll results sounded a warning to the Government that residents did not like its plans.