Tiaki Wai apologises after Wellington residents fight bills for water they can't use

Wellington residents forced out of their homes due to storm damage have been landed with bills from Tiaki Wai - despite not using any water.

Late on Wednesday Tiaki Wai apologised for the bills, saying they were a mistake as it gets to grips with running the new water entity.

Aaron Pahl fled his Stokes Valley house in February, as the base of his home slid down the hill in a fierce storm.

That left his family home hanging exposed - and he was told by the council he couldn't return.

"Nah, nah, we're not allowed to live in it, there's a sign on the door saying if we live in it we get a $200,000 fine for every day we reside in it."

Currently dealing with claims with the Natural Hazard Commission - and facing huge costs to fix his home - Pahl said a $562 bill due on 1 September added insult to injury.

He said he should not have to pay for water he couldn't use.

"Surely they could have communicated amongst themselves and said, 'alright, let's not send it to this bunch'.

"But they sent it anyways and I'm like, 'Well, you guys can fly a kite I'm not paying it', you know. I've got enough to deal with at the moment let alone paying a bloody water bill for something I can't even use."

Hutt City Council has granted him a rates remission, and he said the same should apply to his water bill.

"The council have said I'm not allowed to live in my house, right? So I'm not going to be using water, my sewage isn't going to be working, like I'm not going to have any toilets flushing or anything like that, so I don't feel like I have to pay it for that."

Wellington City Council said three buildings were issued with dangerous building notices following April's flash flooding and 104 properties qualified for rates remission.

Hutt City Council said six buildings were white and yellow-stickered following April's storms, but could not provide the numbers of properties qualifying for rates remission.

Berhampore resident Josh Palmer and his wife scaled a two-metre fence with their baby when floods ripped through their home in April.

The home was unliveable, he said and had been deemed a "total loss".

Palmer said the family had been living elsewhere ever since and had been granted rates remission by the Wellington City Council.

But it was different story for the nearly $500 Tiaki Wai water bill.

"It wasn't a shock that we got the bill as we did know that that was going to happen. But we applied to ... not have to pay that bill, which got rejected.

"So that was the big shock to us."

Palmer said the family was appealing that decision, and hoped Tiaki Wai would "see a bit of reason", but said the whole situation was "pretty annoying".

"Having to chase this up is just more work for us on top of all the insurance and everything we have to do with the fact that we've lost our house.

"It just adds to our plate."

'I apologise' - Tiaki Wai says teething issues due to 'massive change'

Tiaki Wai's chief executive Michael Brewster said he was sorry the bills were sent by mistake as staff got to grips with running the new entity.

He said those getting rates rebates for storm-damaged properties would either get lower water bills, or none at all - depending on how the council was doing its rates remission policy for the property.

Brewster urged anyone in a similar situation with a flood-damaged home to get in contact.

"It's pretty clear we missed this piece, and didn't get it right, and so to them I do apologise. However, we are dealing with four different councils, four different billing systems, a massive change - so some things are going to be missed, that's not an excuse, just a reality."

Some residents said they've been shocked by the bills, and confused about how to pay - with Lower Hutt residents initially unable to set up regular bill payments for their annual bill on the Payble App, to spread the costs.

Brewster said that issue had now been corrected.

He said if people were unable to pay their bills, they should contact Tiaki Wai.

"There's a cost of living crisis...if you are struggling to pay my message is please contact us, we do have hardship policies to contact customers - who are genuinely struggling."

However he said people simply refusing to pay their bills without contacting Tiaki Wai, was a different situation.

That could mean debt collection.

"At the end of the day there is an obligation to pay your bill, if nobody pays their bill we have no money to fix the system."