$450,000 debt wiped for hard-up water consumers

Watercare received 11,334 applications last year for a leak allowance on their metered use after they had fixed leaks. Photo / Getty Images

More than $450,000 of hardship relief in water bills has been granted in the three years since radical changes to the way Aucklanders pay for water.

A trust set up by Watercare Services, before the introduction of monthly billing and controversial volumetric charges for wastewater, has written off debt for 403 households with a further 35 pending.

They completed an application process which involves household budget advisers and trust members reviewing personal finances.

Agreement to a payment arrangement may lead to some of the debt being wiped.

"They are awesome," said Otahuhu Home Budgeting Service manager Lesley Matia.

"We have a lot of applications and nine times out of 10 they waive the debt."

However, she said advisers checked finances and applicants had to show they were not abusing the system.

Although one client had $900 in arrears, arrangements were made to pay the monthly bill for three months before part of the original debt could be wiped.

Budget advisers say water bills come to their attention when they pile up on other household costs such as electricity, loan repayments, rent or Auckland Council rates.

Watercare raised water and wastewater prices for households from July 1, 2012 and 2014. From July 1, 2015, it announced an average rise of 2.5 per cent, or about $1.75 a month extra for the average household.

The average monthly household water and wastewater bill was $67.55 for the period July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2014.

Watercare has 416,000 supply connections.

Water Utility Consumer Assistance Trust chairman John Lusk said that given the number of customers, it had expected more applications but these had ranged from 184 to 123 and last year's 154.

"The grants are for amounts around $350 but for people who are struggling to meet their living costs, every little bit counts."

Mr Lusk said the chance of a debt being written off depended on circumstances and a commitment to pay monthly bills. Mr Lusk said applicants were given advice on how to reduce their use of water and testing for leaks.

Watercare received 11,334 applications last year for a leak allowance on their metered use after they had fixed leaks.

Rebates amounted to $4.9 million.

Councillor Dr Cathy Casey said she was disappointed and concerned at the lack of uptake of the trust's relief.

Mr Lusk said that while in-depth consideration continued to be given to ways of increasing customer awareness of the trust, the trustees believed that customers in hardship circumstances become aware of the assistance offered by the trust through the Watercare debtor administration process once they were in arrears with payments.