Price-quality path for Watercare

We are setting the first price-quality path for Watercare (PQP28) 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.

On 2 November 2026 we published additional documents related to Watercare’s PQP28. These documents include:

• the proposal guidance and supporting regulatory template, which set out what we expect Watercare to provide in its proposal for PQP28
• the terms of reference for the independent verification of Watercare’s proposal; and
• a letter from Watercare to the Commerce Commission dated 1 September 2026 and our response dated 16 October 2026.

We have published these documents in keeping with our commitment to transparency. We are not seeking stakeholder feedback on them.

You can view these documents, along with all previously published PQP28 documents, on the Project Timeline below.

The table below outlines our next steps in setting Watercare’s PQP28.