Pay a bill

At the moment, your local council is billing you on our behalf - while we get up and running smoothly. In time, we will set up our own billing system and customer service team. When that happens, we’ll let you know.

No. Please continue to pay your local council for your water and wastewater services.

Please reach out to your local council to find out what support is available.

We understand people may be wondering how changes to water service delivery could affect what they pay for these services in the future.

For the current financial year, ending 30 June 2027, customers are being charged using the rates and charging methods set by their council, with charges being collected by council.

We are not yet in position to confirm how water and wastewater services will be charged in the longer term. Three of our six shareholding councils use water meters and three do not. While a full meter rollout is one possible option, it would take time to implement and would not be completed by 1 July next year, when we become responsible for setting charges. We have not yet determined whether this would be the right approach for our company.

In the next few years, we expect charging arrangements to remain broadly similar to those used by councils today, while we assess options for creating a more consistent approach across our region over time.

As with most household bills, water and wastewater charges are expected to increase over time as infrastructure is maintained and upgraded, regulatory requirements are met, and investment is made to support future growth and resilience. We are committed to delivering reliable services and ensuring customers receive the best possible value for every dollar we spend.

To set fair and sustainable charges, we first need to understand the cost of providing water and wastewater services, now and into the future.

Some costs are part of our day-to-day operations. These include things like paying staff, running treatment plants, and covering costs such as electricity and chlorine.

Other costs are longer-term investments. These include building new infrastructure, upgrading treatment plants, and replacing ageing pipes and other assets. While we receive some funding through development contributions, most of the money needed to operate, maintain and improve our services comes from either customer charges or borrowing.

Because water infrastructure is expensive to build and maintain, investment in assets is one of the biggest factors influencing prices. While borrowing can help spread costs over time, that money still needs to be repaid. Ultimately, customer charges are the main source of funding for the services we provide.

When setting prices, there are some important trade-offs to consider:

• Lower charges today may require more borrowing or less infrastructure improvements and upgrades.
• Lower borrowing today may require delayed or reduced infrastructure improvements and upgrades.
• Higher investment in infrastructure today may increase charges, require more borrowing, or both.

The key question is finding the right balance between affordability today and maintaining reliable services for the future.

Once we understand our costs, we can decide how to recover those costs fairly. For example, we need to consider how much should be collected through fixed charges and how much should be based on water use. We also need to think about the different needs of residential, commercial, and trade waste customers.

Every pricing decision affects customers differently. That’s why it’s important we understand how people use our services, consider the needs of different customer groups, and balance fairness, affordability and long-term sustainability.