Government imposes 10 years of performance requirements on Tiaki Wai

It is the first time such a tool has been used on a water services provider.Under the rules, the Commerce Commission is able to set binding requirements on Tiaki Wai's performance. That means it can specify what it must deliver, and by when.The performance requirements will be in place for the next 10 years.Local Government Minister Simon Watts said Wellingtonians were being asked to pay a lot for water, and they were entitled to know what they were getting for their money."Decades of local underinvestment have left this region with water networks that are not up to standard, and the cost of fixing them is now landing directly on households. Given the scale of investment required, strong accountability is essential.Simon WattsRNZ/Baz Macdonald"The government will be watching Tiaki Wai very closely."I have a low threshold for considering further intervention if we do not see clear and sustained performance improvements," Watts said."This is about restoring confidence that the money being collected is delivering the infrastructure and services people have been promised."Consumer Affairs Minister Cameron Brewer said transparency on its own was not enough. That was why the government was giving the Commerce Commission "real teeth" to deal with the provider."For years the cost of water services was buried inside rates while networks were left to deteriorate - which is partly why Wellington ended up here," he said."Tiaki Wai faces an estimated $25 billion of investment over the next 30 years. That is an enormous amount of other people's money, and Wellingtonians are entitled to expect it goes into pipes and treatment plants."The Commission had signalled that its initial focus would be on the critical, high-risk projects Tiaki Wai has already committed to, he said.Stop Tiaki Wai organiser Guy Nunns said the water provider needed a major change in how it operates to focus on affordability - not just more oversight."Talk is cheap," he told RNZ."We want to be optimistic about anything that's coming from our politicians and our government but history has shown that often what they say and what they do are two different things.""This might be a turning point - it would be fantastic if it is."