Water mix-up: Auckland neighbours pay each other's water bills for two years

In a case of crossed wires, two neighbours in Auckland have been paying the other's water bill for the past two years.

For most of that time, there has been little reason for the Browns Bay neighbours to question their water bills.

Leo Yu and his wife have two young children. Andrew Young and his wife have a 10-year-old daughter. They live in similar-size houses built about six years ago and each pay about $90 a month for water.

Nothing seemed amiss until Yu's wife, their 5-year-old and a newborn baby went back to China at the end of last year. Because of Covid-19 they have been unable to return to New Zealand but are due to return home this week.

Yu was perplexed to find he was still paying the same amount for water each month and thought there might be a leak.

"I turned on the tap in the house and realised my water meter was not running at all, but my neighbour's water meter was running.

"I called my neighbour and Andrew did the same and saw my meter was running, said Yu.

When the neighbours compared water bills, Yu discovered Young was paying more for water last year after his wife had a new-born baby and the family was using a lot more water.

Young said he discovered since January that Yu's water bill had stayed the same and his had gone down. Every second water bill is an estimate and it had taken time to twig to what was going on, he said.

It was a case of swings and roundabouts, said Young, saying the families were pretty good friends, had a bit of a laugh and not trying to get any money out of each other.

Browns Bay neighbours Leo Yu (left) and Andrew Young have been paying each other's water bills for about two years. Photo / Greg Bowker

"The houses are relatively new and when they were built five or six years ago they didn't make sure the right meter was connected to the right house.

"We just want Watercare to switch them over so we are both paying for the water we are using," Young said.

Yu is philosophical about the mix-up, but has not been impressed with Watercare after getting "kicked around" on its phone line from the water meter fault team to the connection team to the billing team.

He just wants the matter sorted before his wife and family return home.

Watercare logged the meter fault four days ago but has still to fix the problem.

A Watercare spokeswoman said the council's water company could not comment on the case for privacy reasons.