![\"Lower](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/lower-hutt-resident-anthony-allen-32DSHIS5MRCE5AND57L47HTWUQ.jpg\")
<\/p>\nRatepayers across the Wellington region have raised concerns about the cost of their new Tiaki Wai bills, with some reporting significant increases in their combined rates and water charges.<\/p>\n
In Lower Hutt, an unused granny flat had left Anthony Allen facing projected annual water costs of about $4500.<\/p>\n
He said his household’s rates bill was previously $7133 a year, but the addition of Tiaki Wai charges meant his combined costs were now approaching $10,000 \u2013 an increase of about 36%.<\/p>\n
\u201cKnowing that there’s nothing that we can do is quite a level of helplessness here,” he told 1News. <\/p>\n
Allen said he supported investing in the region’s water infrastructure but questioned whether the amount he was being charged reflected his household’s actual water consumption. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy household consists of two adults and two ten-year-old children who alternate between co-parent households. Given our occupancy levels, I do not believe our water usage is excessive,” he said. <\/p>\n
Since July, ratepayers in Porirua, Hutt Valley and Wellington had paid for water services separately to their rates through Tiaki Wai. <\/p>\n
The average water bill for 2026\/27 across the four cities was expected to be 13.3% more than what had been paid through council rates.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lower Hutt resident Anthony Allen. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
Other residents had also been adding up their combined bills and calculating what the change would mean for their household budgets. <\/p>\n
“Prior to the changes I was paying $1244 for my rates each quarter. With the new system I\u2019m now paying $894 in rates, and a further $578.56 in water making it $1472.56, at an increase of 18%,” one Stokes Valley resident told 1News. <\/p>\n
In Petone, Lester Carlo Lomboy said he and his partner were concerned after calculating that their fortnightly direct debit payments would amount to roughly $2000 more over the year than the amount they had been invoiced for.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s very alarming,” he said. “It’s not like we’re picking up money on the street.”<\/p>\n
Lomboy said he had contacted Tiaki Wai to question the direct debit but was told to wait five working days for a response.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, it’s already debited in our account as well so that’s why it’s much more concerning for us.” <\/p>\n
More than 20 ratepayers across the region contacted 1News saying they were yet to receive their water bill, despite payments being due in a few weeks.<\/p>\n
“I have not received my water bill. Gulp. Prepared for the worse. I co-own [my] house with my daughter,” a Porirua resident wrote. <\/p>\n
“Well, if they start asking me for money, I’ll be asking them for the bill first. I’m not going to pay something I haven’t seen,” another said. <\/p>\n
Tiaki Wai responds<\/p>\n
![\"Houses](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/houses-in-wellington-file-image-D7XORNQ23BGRFJWC64IXANFJDE.png\")
<\/p>\n
Houses in Wellington (file image). (Source: istock.com)<\/p>\n
Tiaki Wai said it needed to know more about specific cases involving to granny flats before it could give any direction. <\/p>\n
“The best thing is for the customer to get in touch with us directly. The same applies for any customer who has a query about their specific circumstances,” it said.<\/p>\n
The organisation added that all bills had now been sent, although some may had been returned or gone undelivered.<\/p>\n
“Naturally some will have bounced back or been undelivered, although we aren\u2019t aware of any issue that would cause ‘large numbers’ not to have arrived. <\/p>\n
“They weren\u2019t all sent out at once, as the councils sent these on our behalf using existing systems. So, some areas did receive theirs ahead of others.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ratepayers across the Wellington region have raised concerns about the cost of their new Tiaki Wai bills, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":563765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69,52],"class_list":["post-563764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-wellington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}