Auckland water bills will rise by 7 per cent in July, taking the average household water bill to $1224 a year. 

The new charges were today approved by the board of Watercare, the council-controlled organisation responsible for the city's water and wastewater services. 

Auckland Council is also proposing to increase rates by 6.1 per cent from July, which includes a climate-action targeted rate of 2.4 per cent to deliver new and frequent bus services, planting of native trees and other measures to reduce emissions. 

Watercare chief executive Jon Lamonte said the past 12 months have been challenging with Covid-19 pushing up operating costs and inflation lifting construction costs. 

Watercare chief executive Jon Lamonte. Photo / File 

"For example, we're now paying about 75 per cent more for steel than we were 18 months ago, due to price increases to both buy and transport it. 

"But despite rising costs, we are sticking to the price path we communicated last year as part of Auckland Council's long-term plan," he said. 

Watercare is in the second year of a 10-year programme to raise household bills by 111 per cent, from an average of $1069 to $2261 by 2031. 

Lamonte said every dollar customers pay in their water and wastewater bills goes towards delivering water services safely and reliably and to continue investing in the city's networks. 

As well as a 7 per cent increase in water bills, Watercare is increasing infrastructure growth charges by 8 per cent. 

The price for 1000 litres of water will go from $1.706 to $1.825, while 1000 litres of wastewater will go from $2.966 to $3.174. The fixed wastewater charge will go from $247 a year to $264. 

"In real terms, households with average water use will pay around $1.50 more per week." 

Lamonte said there are a number of options available to assist customers who may be struggling financially. 

"We understand that many Aucklanders are facing financial challenges at the moment, so we encourage our customers to get in touch with us if they're struggling to pay their bills. 

"We can work out flexible payment plans or refer them to the Water Utility Consumer Assistance Trust, which we fund to support customers suffering genuine hardship," he said. 

Over the past five years, the trust has provided more than $570,000, which has helped 610 vulnerable customers. 

Lamonte said Watercare's $18.5 billion investment programme for the next 20 years will maintain, replace, upgrade and expand infrastructure to cater for growth, and deliver better environmental outcomes. 

"In the next financial year alone we'll be spending more than $700m on infrastructure projects that will cater for our growing population, replace ageing infrastructure and improve the environment in which we operate. 

"These include completing our permanent Papakura Water Treatment Plant, continuing to deliver the Central Interceptor wastewater tunnel and building a new wastewater treatment plant at Snells Beach," he said. 

- by Bernard Orsman, NZ Herald