Auckland water prices to rise 9.5 per cent, follows price path approved by the board of directors

Auckland’s water and wastewater prices will rise by 9.5 per cent, with Watercare’s boss saying it will stick to its approved plan despite facing “significant challenges”.

Watercare’s board of directors confirmed the increase from July 1, which follows the price path approved by the board of directors in December 2020. It was included in Auckland Council’s Long-Term Plan which was formally adopted in June 2021, after public consultation.

Watercare chief executive Dave Chambers said since the board approved the price path the organisation has “faced significant challenges”, including “very high rates of inflation and extreme weather events ranging from drought to the recent floods.”

“However, we know many people are facing financial strain, so it’s important to us to keep price increases as low as possible,” he said.

“This is why we’re sticking with the price path we communicated in 2021 as part of Auckland Council’s Long-Term Plan.”

Chambers said Watercare has been able to keep costs manageable by reducing its overall head count through attrition.

Infrastructure growth charges will also rise by 8 per cent.

The price for 1000 litres of water will now go from $1.825 to $1.998, while 1000 litres of wastewater will go from $3.174 to $3.476. The fixed wastewater charge will go from $264 a year to $289.

“In real terms, households with average water use will pay about $2.20 more per week,” Chambers said.

“We encourage our customers to get in touch with us if they’re struggling to pay their bills. We can work out flexible payment plans or refer them to the Water Utility Consumer Assistance Trust, which we fund to support customers suffering genuine hardship.”

He said during the past year Watercare has been “focused heavily on reducing our controllable costs.”

“Without this work, we would have been looking at a price increase of 10.7 per cent, so it’s thanks to this drive to find efficiencies that we can keep the increase to 9.5 per cent.

“One of the ways we’ve made savings is by reducing our overall head count through attrition. We’ve gone from having 1255 full-time equivalent staff in June 2022, to 1198 in January 2023.”

A recent review of Watercare’s Asset Management Plan identified a forecast capital expenditure increase of $3.6 billion over the next 10 years.

“This takes our forecast capital expenditure to more than $13 billion over the next 10 years. To fund this, we’ll need to increase the amount we borrow,” Chambers said.

“In the next financial year alone we’ll be spending more than $1b on infrastructure projects that cater for growth, replace ageing assets and deliver better outcomes for the environment. These include completing a new 45-million-litre water storage reservoir at Redoubt Rd, which significantly boosts our water supply resilience, and continuing to tunnel our Central Interceptor wastewater pipe between central Auckland and our Māngere Wastewater Treatment Plant.”

The announcement comes after the axe started to fall on jobs across the Auckland Council group to address a $295 million hole in Mayor Wayne Brown’s first budget.

Eke Panuku Development Auckland confirmed about 20 positions are initially going at the property development arm.

Council chief executive Jim Stabback, with a staff of 7200 and an annual wages bill of more than $530m, has also confirmed job losses are looming.

Stabback and the chief executives of council-controlled organisations (CCOs) are having to trim services and jobs in response to the $295m budget hole brought about by rising costs from high inflation and interest costs and falling revenue from things like public transport fares.