Commission keen to inspect Watercare’s $1.5bn a year plans
The Commerce Commission says it will closely scrutinise Watercare’s new investment plans, which were publicly announced recently.
Commerce Commission Chair Dr John Small says Auckland consumers can be assured the proposals will be independently tested.
“Watercare's responsibility is to provide essential services and to be open and transparent with consumers about what it is proposing and why. As both Watercare's Crown Monitor and the economic regulator of water services, the Commission will fully scrutinise the expanded investment programme to assess whether it is appropriately prioritised, represents efficient expenditure, and delivers long-term benefits for Aucklanders.
“Watercare's announcement provides an indication of the investments it intends to put forward. We will rigorously assess those proposals once they are formally submitted to ensure they deliver lasting benefits for Aucklanders and represent value for consumers, who ultimately pay for these investments through their water charges,” says Dr Small.
Background
The Commerce Commission is the Crown Monitor for Watercare, Auckland’s water and wastewater provider. Our role began on 1 April 2025 and will continue to mid-2028, when price-quality regulation under the Commerce Act will replace the interim Watercare Charter. This will apply alongside information disclosure regulation.
We monitor Watercare’s performance under the Charter and report annually. If Watercare does not comply with the requirements of the Charter, we can investigate and take enforcement action. Our Crown monitor role is specific to Watercare and separate from our other water regulation work.
Under our role as economic regulator for water and wastewater providers, we are setting the first price-quality path for Watercare (PQP28) under Part 4 of the Commerce Act. It will apply when the Charter ends in mid-2028.
Under a price-quality path we can set the maximum amount of money that Watercare can recover from consumers, and the quality of service they need to provide for that money. We can also set a minimum amount of money they can recover, if we think this helps consumers in the long term.
A price-quality path works with other components of economic regulation, like information disclosure (ID) that requires Watercare to publish information that lets stakeholders understand whether it's delivering the quality of service it must.
More information about our role as the economic regulator for water services is available.