Water New Zealand Web Forum

[Alister Murray]

What is the practice of other water suppliers in dealing with high invoices resultant from on site leakage?

Strictly speaking all responsibility lies with the property owner but recently I have experienced cases where leakage was not apparent on the ground and as we read meters on a 3 monthly basis a high bill resulted. Do others strictly adhere to the practice of total responsibility with the property owner or do they discount the invoice - what rationale is used?

[Oscar]

Hi Alister
NZS9201.7:2007 (i.e. Model General Bylaws Part 7) give good guidance on this issue, provided this is your adopted document. Basically you can either estimate or charge as metered, and it might come down to things like precedent (set or setting), volume lost and your relationship(s) with your customers.
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Oscar Smit
Assets Engineer - Water and Wastewater
Waitaki District Council

[WTRBOY]

Hi Alister
You would need to check current policy and practice of the councils and CCOs in Auckland but most accept that an unlimited charge for all metered water (including the leak) is unworkable and inevitably ends up in tears in the Mayors office. Typically the account is discounted provided the property owner responds quickly and produces evidence that the repair has been done (followed by check reads). The discount might be based on paying normal consumption plus the production cost of the extra water, given that Auckland on bulk supply, but limited to twice the normal account. Need some rules around say only getting 2 rebates in 5 years to avoid ongoing issues. Above only applies to residential and maximum limitation does not apply to commercial properties which includes residential rentals. Auckland, Manukau and Rodney also charge wastewater on water consumed so will have some way of also dealing with that. Check their Customer Charters. Cheers

[Dylan Stuijt]

Hi Alister

We tend to give the owner the opportunity to repair the leak as soon as its identified as quite often they don't realise they have a leak, and then estimate the volume for the previous period based on historical figures. However if they don't repair the leak in a timely manner we charge the full amount as allowed for under our By-law, and pursue water wasting provisions under the LGA. As Oscar pointed out, It does come down to your relationship with your customers.

In one case a worker informed us that a leak had been obvious for months in the work shed, but the owner never got around to repairing it. In this case we charged the full amount.
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Water Supply Manager - Hastings District Council

[Wicca]

Greetings Alister,
From the Otorohanga DC perspective.
1. They are told of a high reading and it is estimated
2. They are told of the high reading and charged the full amount
3. They are told of the high reading and charged the full amount
4. They are told of the high reading, charged the full amount and charged by ODC to have the repair done.

We feel that three notifications (18 months) is more than enough and they pick up the costs. It has only gone to that level once that anyone can remember though, usually its done on the second warning when the full charge is made.

Cheers
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