Within weeks, 200 Hamilton East households will receive water meters – and they’re ready to roll out the welcome mat.
The selected homes are part of a three-month pilot programme to test residential water meters in the city. Each household has volunteered for the programme after IAWAI, the water company set up by Hamilton City Council and Waikato District Council, called for volunteers last year. Hundreds of households responded, ranging from student flats to large families.
IAWAI will use the pilot to test household water use, types of meters and other technology before it makes final decisions on installing residential water metres in Hamilton. Homes and businesses in Waikato district have been metered for years, as have more than 4,000 commercial properties in Hamilton.
Te Aakau is also included in the pilot, where 27 properties will be testing digital meters that do not require manual reading. Te Aakau was chosen to test this technology in a rural setting.
Currently Hamilton households pay for water services based on the capital value of their property. The government has made it clear this is no longer acceptable, requiring a more transparent and equitable system and setting a five-year timeframe to make the changes.
Later this month meters will be installed at each participating household – although not all meters will be the same. IAWAI Head of Strategy and Delivery Andrew Parsons said a range of things will be tested including different brands of meters as well as different types of data communication and a software platform.
“This is really a data gathering exercise before any final decisions are made. It’s also a chance to hear from householders on what works and what doesn’t and what further information they may need. Hamilton East is the perfect place for this trial because it’s one of the city’s older suburbs, which presents some unique challenges underground.”
As part of the trial, households will be offered exclusive use of a customer app to monitor their daily water use. Hamilton households currently use, on average, more than 1.5 times the water of a household on a meter in Tauranga. The app will give participants a clear picture of how much water they use, and how that compares to previous days, weeks and months, Parsons said.
IAWAI would also offer free water pipe inspections to help participants identify leaks. While water use will be measured during the three-month period, there will be no additional bill at the end of it.
“They won’t get a new bill. But they will be a lot more informed about how and when they use water and how they could use it more efficiently in the future.”
At the conclusion of the trial, IAWAI will analyse the data including informed costs, timeframes and technology, and consider whether water meters should be rolled out across Hamilton. Funding for metering is provisionally included in the IAWAI Water Services Strategy, which is now open for public feedback.
Learn more about the Te Aakau trial
Learn more at Hamilton.govt.nz/IAWAI
