My Account
The Government is in the process of amalgamating Auckland’s drinking, waste and stormwater services with those of the Far North, Whangarei and Kaipara District as part of a nationwide programme of water reforms.
The reforms are opposed by most councils, including Auckland Council – and the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board generally agreed with that position.
Recently the local board also submitted its own feedback on the specific aspects of economic regulation and consumer protection of the Three Waters.
Two members, Victoria Short and Alexis Poppelbaum, had just four days to put the economic regulation feedback together.
That feedback, which will be attached to the Council’s main submission to Government, includes the following points:
• As the proposed providers will be natural monopolies, economic regulation will be crucial to ensure that water services are affordable for consumers in the face of significant infrastructure deficit, as well as more generally protecting and promoting the long-term interests of consumers.
• Type of regulation: supports the proposal that the regulator be a price-quality regulator, provided ‘quality’ includes factors such as the social, cultural, environmental, and the financial wellbeing of communities.
• Supports a new regulatory authority to be established specifically for the economic regulation of three waters.
• Recommends that there are safeguards providing an assurance of continuity of supply as a human right for those who cannot pay and limits of the duration of supply outages.
• Requests provisions to ensure the regulator is responsive to the plans and priorities of local communities as expressed through the local boards.
• Requests an engagement policy and practice developed that gives regard to local boards as well as the governing body of Auckland Council.
