The $420,000 campaign to let you know Tiaki Wai exists
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
Tiaki Wai exists. And the price tag for letting you know that will set ratepayers back up to $420,000.
The new entity replacing Wellington Water to manage the water assets of Wellington, Hutt Valley and Porirua is operational from July 1. And it will start directly billing homeowners.
The problem is that, as of December, only one in six people knew of Tiaki Wai. A more recent survey showed 30% had still not heard of Tiaki Wai – and these were people engaged enough to take a water services survey.
As such, Tiaki Wai now has a campaign now under way. It has a $420,000 budget, with $67,500 so far spent on advertisements on bus backs, radio and digital, including Meta, YouTube and TVNZ+. More is planned, but chief executive Michael Brewster said the budget was not fully-committed “as we are reviewing expenditure at each stage to ensure value for money”.
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For the record: Wellington’s three waters ‒ tap, waste and storm ‒ are currently run by Wellington Water, the organisation with greatest hits including the Moa Point sewage catastrophe, a contractor overspend fiasco and the leak on your street.
But it had to go to the Wellington region’s councils, apart from Kāpiti, for funding to get anything done.
Enter Tiaki Wai, a product of this Government’s Local Water Done Well policy. This one will have more autonomy as it owns the assets, such as pipes, can borrow more, and charge home owners ‒ currently paying for water via council rates ‒ directly.
The switch happens on July 1, despite an eleventh-hour play-for-delay by three Wellington City councillors this week, worried that they would have virtually no say in how much Tiaki Wai could charge homeowners.
Brewster said the new entity had a responsibility to let people know so it did not come as a shock when that first bill arrived. The campaign amounted to or $3 per water connection.
“We know that getting a new bill is a big change, and people need time and information to be able to prepare to pay in a way that works for them, and on time.”
The cost had been negotiated below government-discounted rates, Brewster said.
Wellington City councillor Karl Tiefenbacher, who tried to this week delay the council joining Tiaki Wai, said it was good a deal had been negotiated but “illogical for a monopoly to waste money on promotion”.
“To justify it as $3 per connection should raise concerns as it is still $420,000 and if you start seeing that as an insignificant amount we are in trouble,” he said.
Hutt City mayor Ken Laban, from the region’s second biggest shareholding council, said ratepayers deserved value for money, but needed a close watch on spending.
Porirua mayor Anita Baker said it was crucial the public understood the coming changes as it was clear not all people did.