Body corporates

Tiaki Wai will invoice properties in the same way they are currently billed by councils, based on how water services are provided to a property and its occupancy arrangements.

Water usage charges

Water usage invoices depend on the meter arrangement:

• If a unit has its own water meter that is read by Tiaki Wai: Tiaki Wai will issue an individual water usage invoice to that owner.
• If the building or a group of units shares a meter read by Tiaki Wai: Tiaki Wai will invoice the Body Corporate (or entity) that owns the shared meter. The Body Corporate then allocates costs internally, as they do now with council water usage bills.

Stormwater and wastewater charges

These charges are based on each unit’s individual rating assessment. They will continue to be invoiced directly to each owner, not to the Body Corporate.

What this means for Body Corporates

• The structure of billing does not change under Tiaki Wai.
• The only difference is that water related invoices will come from Tiaki Wai instead of the council.
• Body Corporates will continue to manage shared meter invoices in the same way they do today.

If your townhouse has its own water meter, you’ll receive an individual Tiaki Wai water usage invoice and won’t pay for commercial use.

If the building uses a shared meter, Tiaki Wai invoices the body corporate that owns the meter, and the body corporate decides how to split costs internally.

Stormwater and wastewater charges remain individual, based on your rating unit. This is no different from how Councils invoice you now.

Tiaki Wai applies the same billing rules to mixed use buildings as to any other property: Volumetric charging for water usage only applies when a meter is installed; the per m3 price is the same irrespective of use. The bill goes to either the body corporate (where one exists) or the rating unit to which the water meter is attached.  If a property doesn't have a water meter, water charges are billed to each separate rating unit on a mix of capital value and fixed charges; along with stormwater and wastewater charges.

If the building has a shared water meter

Tiaki Wai will issue the water usage invoice to the entity that owns the shared meter. In most mixed use buildings, this is the Body Corporate responsible for the shared infrastructure. The Body Corporate then allocates costs internally, just as it does now with council water bills.

If individual units have their own water meters recognised by Tiaki Wai

Each unit will receive its own Tiaki Wai water usage invoice, and will not pay for any other unit’s or commercial tenant’s consumption.

Stormwater and wastewater charges

These charges are based on each unit’s individual rating assessment. They will continue to be invoiced directly to each owner, not to the Body Corporate - regardless of whether the building is mixed use.

What this means for mixed use buildings

• Residential owners will not be charged for commercial water use unless the building itself has chosen to share a meter.
• The billing structure remains the same as the current council process, with invoices simply coming from Tiaki Wai instead.

If the building does not have a water meter, Tiaki Wai does not issue a separate invoice for common area water use (e.g., an external tap). Charges are calculated per rateable unit using the same method councils currently use - based on the property’s value and the services available to that title.

This means:

• There is no separate “common water” bill for the Body Corporate.
• Any water used in shared areas (e.g., taps, cleaning, shared bathrooms) is implicitly included in the per title charges.
• Owners continue to pay individually, as they do now.

This is unchanged from current council practice.

For the first year, Tiaki Wai will issue water services invoices quarterly. Water usage invoices, on the other hand, are issued when the meter is read.

There is no change to how Body Corporates manage shared-meter invoices during this period.

Not at this stage. Even where a building has individual meters or private sub metering, Tiaki Wai can only invoice the owner of the rating unit or the Body Corporate (if the body corporate owns the shared meter).

Tiaki Wai intends to explore options for tenant billing as part of future metering and billing system upgrades, but this will not be available for some time.

Not immediately. Some Body Corporates already use third party sub metering to allocate water costs internally. Tiaki Wai cannot yet use these meters for official billing. For now, private sub metering continues to operate solely for internal cost allocation.

In most cases, yes. Where a building has a shared meter for water usage, individual rating units typically receive a reduced water related charge on their council rates (e.g., “full service with water meter”).

The exact reduction varies by council area. This structure will continue under Tiaki Wai for the first year, with water related charges separated from council rates but calculated using the same underlying rating information.

Charges for metered and unmetered properties currently reflect the inherited council pricing structures, which differ slightly across the region.

For metered properties, water usage charges are based on consumption plus a connection charge. For unmetered properties, charges are based on a mix of capital value and fixed charges.

Whether a property pays more or less with a meter depends on its actual usage and the previous council’s pricing model. This approach remains unchanged for the first year.

It is likely that future pricing structures will include both:

• a fixed daily charge for being connected to the network, and
• a volumetric charge for water used.

The balance between fixed and variable charges will be developed as part of Tiaki Wai’s pricing review. Fixed charges will still apply to vacant properties if they remain connected to the network.

Tiaki Wai invests based on the condition and performance of the whole water network, which crosses council boundaries and functions as a single system.

Investment levels will naturally vary from year to year in different places, but every part of Wellington, Hutt Valley, and Porirua requires significant work over the coming decades.

Tiaki Wai prioritises work based on:

• network condition
• risk
• public health
• environmental impacts
• service failures
• community engagement

Funding isn’t allocated according to where revenue is collected, but according to where it is most needed to keep the region’s water services safe, reliable, and functioning as a connected network. Over time, all communities benefit from this approach because the system only works when every part of it is performing well.