Commission considering stronger economic regulation of Wellington’s water servic…

Commerce Commission Chair Dr John Small says the Commission is evaluating whether additional regulatory oversight of Tiaki Wai – the new water organisation that will take over delivery of water services in the Wellington metropolitan region from 1 July 2026 – would help deliver better outcomes for water consumers.
 
“Our immediate priority is to consider whether Tiaki Wai needs stronger rules, beyond the current and planned reporting requirements, to ensure water services are well managed and provide good value for money in the long term” Dr Small says.
 
Under the Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Act 2024, Wellington Water must publicly disclose key economic information through Foundational information disclosure. This is designed to help incentivise improvement and increase transparency among providers, in this case making it easier for the public to see what Wellington Water is doing, and if it is making progress.
 
The Commission is reviewing this information to assess Wellington Water’s economic performance and to inform decisions about future regulation of Tiaki Wai.
 
The Commission’s analysis of Wellington Water’s first set of disclosures (to 31 October 2025) found:

• A trend of increasing reactive maintenance costs across the network
• Low confidence from Wellington Water in the accuracy of its reported data
• Room for improvement in its Culture and Value for Money Plan performance, as well as in the clarity of its progress reporting. The successful delivery of this plan is designed to set Tiaki Wai up for success. 

A summary factsheet is available.
 
 “Foundational information disclosure helps us shine a light on challenges that occur in Wellington’s water services. Given the issues we are seeing we believe it’s an opportune time to consider whether further regulation would provide better outcomes. We want to ensure Tiaki Wai addresses these challenges and consumers can see real progress,” Dr Small says.
 
The Commission considers additional, targeted information disclosure requirements on top of information disclosure for Tiaki Wai may be appropriate. 
 
Any targeted information disclosure requirements for Tiaki Wai would be in addition to the new national information disclosure rules that will apply to all water service entities from late February 2026.
 
The Commission may also consider further economic regulatory tools available under the Commerce Act. Applying additional regulation would require approval from the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, following consultation with the Minister for Local Government, as set out in legislation.
 
The Commission would consult with interested parties before finalising any decisions or recommendations.

Background

The Commerce Commission is the economic regulator for the water sector. Our
monitoring role of Wellington Water’s performance was confirmed by the Government in March 2025. 
We currently apply early economic regulation or ‘foundational information disclosure (FID)’ which requires Wellington Water to provide:

• Accessible public reporting on its progress in delivering its “Wellington Water Culture and Value for Money Improvement Plan”
• Specified information on its website that provides a clearer picture on trends in maintenance expenditure and fault management; and
• Making existing reporting on consumer-centric performance and delivery performance more accessible.

We monitor the information Wellington Water discloses, analyse the information and share summaries of our insights.
 
In addition to FID, information disclosure (ID) requirements for all regulated water service suppliers other than Wellington Water will be introduced under the Commerce Act this month. Those ID requirements will apply to Tiaki Wai on 1 July 2026.