Simon Watts: Local Government Minister on using Commerce Commission to keep an eye on Wellington Water

The government is calling in the Commerce Commission to help fix Wellington's water issues.

This means Wellington Water will have to report details of its financial management to the Commerce Commission, and the commission will make sure that Wellington ratepayers aren't getting ripped off.

How exactly are they going to do it?

Local Government Minister Simon Watts talks to Ryan Bridge about the details.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Government is calling in the Commerce Commission to help
fix Wellington's water issues. Wellington Water is going to have
to report details of its financial management to the Commerce
Commission and the Commission will make sure that Wellington ratepayers
aren't getting ripped off. But how exactly are they going
to do that and do they have the powers? Simon
Watson's the local government minister, Minister good evening, Hi, Ryan Howe, good,

(00:24):
thank you. So what is the well? First of all,
is this just for Wellington Water or will eventually all
water entities get this attention from the ComCom?

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Well and eventually all water entities will get this attention.
But we're bringing forward the economic regulation for Wellington Water
because of our concerns with their financial and operational performance,
which have been well documented over the last few weeks
and actually actually over the last few years.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
And what will the ComCom actually be able to ask?
You know, what information can they request?

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Well, the ComCom have a number of powers in regards
to information disclosure. They're also going to be implementing an
imposing economic regulation on Wellington Water and basically what that
means they're going to put belts and braces in regards
to their financial and operational management, basically ensuring and mitigating
some of the risks that have been identified in the

(01:17):
reports in the past, but get it an effect match
fit for what it needs to be when it transitions
later this year.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Because the big ripoff or the big rought from your
ratepayers perspective is the fact that they were purchasing pipes
or contracts that were more expensive than market rate. So
that information is commercially sensitive. Can the ComCom ask for that?

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Well, the ComCom will have a full suite of its powers,
and it does have a wide range of powers. I mean,
the key thing that we've identified and we've been concerned about,
and I've been concerned about and Cabinet have agreed is
that we need to increase public accountability at Walington Water
now and that is the decision that Cabinet took this week.
We need to increase the amount of transparency on the

(02:02):
performance and the financial management and that is important for
Wellingtonians because they need to see that and that's not
been the case.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
All right, are you worried about any other entities?

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Look, this is the main concern for me at the moment.
You know, I'm watching all councils pretty closely in terms
of their operation and financial performance, and I have no
hesitation to act if we feel like they're not in
the right place.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
Are there any others on your radar?

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Not at this point, but you know we are actively
monitoring that at the moment.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
All right, Minister, appreciate your time. That's Simon Watts, who's
the local government minister. For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive,
listen live to news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.