On 2 March 2023, Chief Advisor Raymond Horan met with Parliament's Finance and Expenditure Committee to discuss our submissions on the Water Services Legislation Bill and Water Services Economic Efficiency and Consumer Protection Bill. As a managerial organisation our role is to make policy decisions workable.
Watch Raymond Horan deliver our oral submission.
Our key areas of recommendation
During our 20 minutes before the Select Committee we provided an overview of the key groups of recommendations from our submission, specifically:
- The wide scope of the GPS: Water and the need for both Government support (funding, guidance etc).
- The requirement to collect charges on behalf of the Water Services Entities up to 1 July 2029 and the practicalities involved. This included recommendations that the Water Services Entities stand on their own two feet with their billing.
- The unsuitability of aspects of the development contributions reform for Water Services Entities. In particular, that the Water Services Entities do not have access to consent information necessary to administer contributions assessed at times of consents.
- The lack of clarity on the treatment of some transactions for GST purposes. This includes the payments made to local authorities in respect of debt.
The Finance and Expenditure Committee noted our submission was comprehensive, well thought through and helpful. We are expecting further productive discussions with officials as a result.
Our written submissions
Our full submissions make a combined total of 55 recommendations, of which about a third relate specifically to the set of funding and pricing powers provided to the Water Services Entities.
Read our Water Services Legislation Bill submission.
Read our Water Services Economic Efficiency and Consumer Protection Bill submission.
Thanks to our contributors
Of course, this was not solely our work – we gratefully thank PwC, the Development Contributions Working Group, the Taituarā Regulations and Bylaws Working Group and the network of local authority managers who commented on the draft.