Billing
About your water services bill
From 1 July, your new water services provider Tiaki Wai will be sending a separate bill for water services. This is a change from the current system, where you pay for water services through your rates.
In April/May, a Tiaki Wai brochure was sent out along with council rates.
Your first Tiaki Wai bill will arrive in late July/early August. In the meantime, if you are unsure whether a communication that claims to be from Tiaki Wai is genuine, do not click any links, provide personal or financial information, or reply directly. If in doubt, stop and check. The safe way to contact us is through our official contact form or call us on 0800 TIAKI WAI (0800 842 549).
Note that Tiaki Wai will not charge you and you won’t be able to make a bill payment until your first bill arrives in late July/early August. Any communication claiming otherwise may be a scam.
The way you pay for water services is changing
After 1 July 2026, property owners in Lower Hutt, Porirua, Upper Hutt and Wellington will pay Tiaki Wai for water services charges, instead of paying through council rates as you currently do. Property owners will start to receive two separate bills: one for council rates and one for first water services bill.
Your first Tiaki Wai bill will arrive in late July/early August. The due date for paying your first Tiaki Wai bill is 1 September 2026. From then, you will receive water services bills from Tiaki Wai every three months, on the same cycle as your council rates.
What will you be paying for?
Your water services charges will cover costs for the operation and maintenance of infrastructure networks that: supply drinking water to your property; remove wastewater from your sinks and toilets; and take away stormwater from your downpipes and public areas.
How will you pay your water services bill?
You will be able to pay your bill by direct debit, online banking, phone banking, or over the counter at NZ Post stores that offer bill-payment services.
Initially, Tiaki Wai is working with councils to deliver billing services on its behalf. For this reason, the payment options for your Tiaki Wai bills are slightly different for each council.
Click on your city below for details. If you have property in more than one city, you will need to set up arrangements for each separately.
If you are struggling to pay your water services bill, there is support available.
Calculate your estimated water charges
Below is a calculator, which will give you an indication of your 2026/27 water services charges.
This calculator will provide indicative charges based on the information you enter. Actual charges may differ. It is based on a standard property fully connected to water and wastewater networks and serviced by stormwater. It does not account for special rating differentials applied to some community groups. For further detail of non-standard charges please refer to the Pricing Policy.
Estimate your 2026/27 water charges
This calculator will provide indicative charges based on the information you enter.
Your bill will confirm water services charges for your property.
This calculator will provide indicative charges based on the information you enter. Actual charges may differ. It is based on a standard property fully connected to water and wastewater networks and serviced by stormwater. It does not account for special rating differentials applied to some community groups. For further detail of non-standard charges please refer to the Pricing Policy.
How will Tiaki Wai calculate water charges?
The approach to calculating water charges is not changing immediately. For the first year from 1 July 2026, Tiaki Wai is calculating water services charges using the water pricing policy and mechanisms currently used by your council, in the interests of continuity. This includes a mix of capital value and fixed charges, different for each council, and only relate to water usage where a customer already has a water meter.
This is why the exact amount varies from city to city and property to property, in the same way council rates vary. The average water services charges bill for 2026/27 will be $2,390. This is a 13.3% increase on the $2,100 currently paid through rates.
You can find out more about this in the Water Services Strategy [link]
The long-term goal for Tiaki Wai is to ensure that charges for water services are consistent for similar properties that utilise comparable services, regardless of their geographical location across the service area.
This move toward a more consistent regional structure where water charges are ‘harmonised’ across the takiwā (Tiaki Wai region, or service area) is expected to happen no later than 1 July 2031. You will have an opportunity to comment on how and when this transition to a harmonised approach takes place, before final decisions are made.
The installation of residential water meters would in future allow all for charging to reflect water usage, but this is several years away.
When a property changes hands
As part of the property sales process, water charges have to be apportioned at settlement.