DIESEL SPILL EVENT RDC #23
Raetihi Insurance & Claim Assistance

Four home owners and four businesses took up the opportunity to get specialist insurance and compensation claim advice due to losses suffered through the Raetihi water diesel contamination.

As part of its commitment to giving the Raetihi community all the support that it can following the diesel contamination of the town’s water supply Ruapehu District Council (RDC) organised for its own insurer to meet with anyone needing advice or assistance in putting together an insurance and compensation claim.

RDC Chief Executive, Peter Till, said that the offer to meet with specialists from Council’s own insurer Aon was open to anyone affected by the diesel spill whether they had insurance or not.

“Council felt this was a very practical way in which we could assist the people of Raetihi,” he said.

“We had already organised a group meeting for business owners to meet with Aon specialists in mid-October during the water outage but this provided an opportunity for people to meet one-on-one and get personal advice on their particular situation.”

Mr Till said that the main issues revolved around loss of business and damage to residential property.

“For businesses this has included things such as lost bookings or opportunities and additional costs that were incurred.”

“For residential properties the main issue is damage to plumbing from the diesel contamination.”

Mr Till noted that the Council has been asking people when making an insurance or compensation claim to send a copy of the details to Council so that we can develop a better picture of the damage and losses overall.

“This information will be invaluable for Council when making further deliberations on what type of additional assistance Raetihi may need,” he said.

“It will also be very important to have an accurate understanding of Raetihi losses in any discussions with Ruapehu Alpine Lifts (RAL) or central government about any future assistance.”

“The picture so far is that individual losses are averaging between the one to four thousand dollar range with the higher end being suffered by local businesses.”

Mr Till added that Council would still like to receive copies or a summary of individual claims.

“We are not interested in individual personal details but developing a ‘big picture’ view of total losses,” he said.

“People can either post the information to Council or to; info@ruapehudc.govt.nz with ‘Diesel Contamination Claim’ in the subject line.”

ENDS

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