Price-quality path for Watercare
Watercare will be subject to a price-quality path once the Charter ends in June 2028.
Our role
We are setting the first price-quality path for Watercare 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.
Progress to date
Letter of Expectations
On 27 January 2026, we sent a letter to Watercare outlining our guiding principles for the development of Watercare’s price-quality path and how we intend to work with it.
Approach Paper
We published our Approach Paper as the first formal step in setting the price-quality path for Watercare. The paper sets out our process and preliminary views on how we will set Watercare’s first price-quality path.
We published this paper now to promote regulatory predictability and seek early feedback from interested stakeholders. Submission on our approach paper were due 5 February 2026.
Proof-of-concept model
We had also published a 'proof-of-concept' model to assist consideration of our preferred approach to setting the initial regulated asset base if we ultimately decide to limit Watercare's revenues by applying a 'building blocks' approach, implemented in accordance with the financial capital maintenance principle. The model is solely an illustrative tool subject to refinement and is not part of our decision making.