Save now or save later? Consultation for Selwyn’s water services opens

Tuesday, 25 February 2025

The way water services in Selwyn are run will be changing - and it will have an impact on people’s back pockets.

Selwynites have less than three weeks to help the council decide if water management should stay in-house or not - and whether to save money now or later.

If the management of drinking water and wastewater stays with Selwyn District Council, it will be cheaper for residents for the first three years.

But if it was to be transferred to a council-controlled organisation, analysis suggests it would be cheaper under such a model in nine years, by 2033/34.

Consultation opened on Thursday as the council works to have its water service plans in place for the Government’s Local Water Done Well policy ahead of July 1.

If the council chooses to an in-house water services model, ratepayers in urban residential properties with sewerage could expect to pay almost $2000 as part of a rates bill by 2027/28, while those in properties on a restricted water supply without sewerage would pay $1000.

Under a council-controlled organisation model, figures would increase by about 35% to about $2600 for and $1300 respectively under the model.

Selwyn District Council staff estimate ratepayers will pay more for wastewater and drinking water services in nine years if its management is not outsourced to a council-controlled organisation.

However, by 2033/34 analysis suggests costs would be up to 3% cheaper for homes with sewerage and 7% cheaper for properties on a restricted water supply without sewerage if a council-controlled organisation was established.

Council staff said initial costs for the council-controlled organisation were higher due than the in-house option due to set-up costs, but modelling suggested charges would become more favourable after almost a decade.

Mayor Sam Broughton said there was been “political interference” in water infrastructure investment that had led to leaking pipes and a lack of investment across the nation.

Ownership, management and operations of water were almost taken from councils under the former Labour government’s Three Waters reforms because many councils were struggling to pay for the upkeep of infrastructure.

Selwyn mayor Sam Broughton says a council-controlled organisation would likely be cheaper for ratepayers than an in-house model - in nine years.

The plan was scrapped by the current Government, which promised to keep water with local authorities by introducing its own policy, Local Water Done Well.

Under the new policy councils must submit a water services delivery plan to the Government that emphasises financial sustainability.

Broughton said both choices would see the council retain control of the water service as the sole shareholder, and while there were pros and cons to each, the council wanted to implement the best option to future-proof the district’s water services.

“We want to keep costs as affordable as possible, so we must examine which model provides low-cost certainty in the long term. The analysis shows that within 10 years, the [council-controlled organisation] will be the cheaper option, and these savings will continue to grow,” he said.

“If we keep the services in-house, which does have some short-term gains, but with greater uncertainty, our community would be faced with higher ongoing charges in a few years, and so in-house looks less sustainable from a cost-of-living crisis point of view.”

Consultation closes on March 12.