Big families are set to pay a lot more for water in Raglan when water meters start to tick over later this year. Increases of up to 50% are predicted by a calculator on the Waikato District Council website. A family of six people, who use water in and around their home for gardening are shown as using 959 litres a day. The calculator works this out to be 175 cubic metres in a six month period which is equivalent to 350 cubic metres in a year. With a water charge of $1.76 per cubic meter and a water infrastructure charge of $207.60 on top of that, the total works out to be $823.60. The same family would be paying $549 a year previously.
So that’s a water charge increase of 50% for big families in Raglan.
Things won’t be so bad for a family of four who only use water inside their home. For them the new charge when water meters start up will total $523.40 a year. About the same as they are paying now.
But there is good news for Raglan bach owners. For a bach owner with family of four that is in Raglan for 60 days a year and who don’t have a garden or wash their boat, the water charges are likely to halve to about $260 a year.
Waikato District Council has been installing water meters in Raglan over the last few years. (In the blue box in your lawn or driveway.) WDC says that if you are not already charged using a water meter, you will continue to pay a non-metered water charge for your water supply included in the rates bill until 30 June 2017.
Raglan homes with a meter installed were sent a letter in February to confirm this and to provide information about the new meters. Where meters still have to be installed, WDC will send a letter saying a meter will be installed soon.
Charging with water meters for the amount of water Raglanders use will start from 1 July 2017 but the first payment will not be due until late October 2017. For rental properties the property owner is expected to pay the targeted rate, but may pass on water use charges to the tenant (see section 39 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986). The property owner is liable for rates pursuant to the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002. Any arrangement regarding payment of a water consumption charge is usually included in the Tenancy Agreement between the owner and the tenant. If the tenant does not pay the water charges, this falls on the property owner.
To help prepare for the water meters, WDC will be doing a trial reading in February 2017. There is no need to pay this, it will simply highlight how much you will be charged from July 2017 if you continue to use the same amount of water.
For people concerned about the impact of the water meters on their families, Waikato District Council is running, Meet Your Meter public information sessions at the Raglan library/ council office, as well as at community events, to ensure that people have the opportunity to talk to a council staff member about water meters.
MEET YOUR METER SESSIONS
The dates and venues for the Meet Your Meter public information sessions are:
RAGLAN
- Council office and library (7 Bow Street) – 20 February, 9am-3pm
- Raglan Creative Market (5 Stewart Street) – 12 March.
I calculated that on current water use rates and current water charges a family of seven will pay the same if they use the recommended amount of water. Anything less than that will be saving money. This will encourage people to look at their water use and modify behaviour to reduce costs if they want too. If you are rich enough and arrogant enough not to care about the environment then you can continue to waste water as you always have done.
The WDC calculator does not have an option for a family of seven and it does not give a recommended amount of water.
Using the calculator for a family of 6 and ‘Lower Use’ for water, then adding 1/6 on for a seventh person, the water use is 703.5 litres a day. This is 256.66 cubic litres a year. The cost for this is $451 plus water infrastructure at $207.60 gives a total of $658.60 a year. Equivalent to a 20% increase. If a family of seven reduced their water use to 180 cubic metres a year then they would pay about the same as they do now.