HUTT CITY COUNCIL NEWS RELEASE
16 March 2012

Shared Ownership of Water Company Proposed

Hutt City Council supports sharing ownership of the water supply company Capacity with other Wellington regional councils.

Councillors voted unanimously in favour of a proposal to enable other local authorities in the region to become shareholders of Capacity, which is jointly owned by Hutt and Wellington Cities.

The proposal has yet to be considered by Wellington, Porirua and Upper Hutt City Councils.

Hutt Mayor Ray Wallace said Capacity provided professional management of the water supply, stormwater and wastewater networks for Wellington, Hutt City and Upper Hutt.

“We have had excellent service at a significantly reduced cost and substantial savings are forecast under regionally shared ownership over the next five years,” he said.

“Public ownership of the water network assets would be retained with supply services geared to meet the needs of individual councils and their residents.

“Hutt City welcomes the opportunity to share ownership of Capacity and achieve economies of scale that will benefit everyone in the region,” he said. “There will be no degradation of services, assets will be maintained and enhanced and there will be no privatisation.”

Capacity Chief Executive, David Hill, said the proposal was a good example of Wellington councils working together to seek efficiencies in core service delivery.

“Capacity has saved its shareholders and their ratepayers over $3 million since it was formed,” said Mr Hill. “It is simply more efficient to have an integrated regional entity focusing on water that provides each council with high quality water services management at the best possible value.”

Hutt City and Wellington City councils jointly established Capacity in 2004. Upper Hutt became a client of Capacity’s water supply, wastewater and stormwater network management services in 2008, with the option to become a shareholder.

ENDS

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