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Billing / Hardship Support

Hardship Support

If you’re having trouble paying your Tiaki Wai water bill, you’re not alone and you won’t be penalised for asking for support.

Our Debtors’ Management & Hardship/Waivers Policy sets out a clear, fair and transparent process for the management and collection of overdue water services and/or water usage charges.

Confidential support is available for residential property owners experiencing genuine financial hardship. Your water will not be turned off if you’re struggling to pay your bill. Restriction of water supply is a last resort, used only when someone is unwilling, not unable, to pay.

Our support framework

Tiaki Wai provides different tiers of hardship support. Our first focus is always on practical, non-financial solutions that are tailored to your situation.

Non-financial support

The most common type of support is to help you work out a payment arrangement. This will take into account what you can realistically afford to cover the ongoing charges and pay off any debt, which might include:

  • smaller weekly/fortnightly payments
  • pausing payments for a short period if your situation is unstable
  • extending the time period in which you have to pay.


If penalties were applied, these will be waived for anyone receiving hardship support.

Advice on other options

Another form of non-financial support is to provide resources so you can connect with the appropriate:

  • budgeting or financial mentoring services
  • community or government support (for example, the Rates Rebate Scheme, which would be accessed through your council).

If you have a water meter that’s billed by Tiaki Wai, there is also support available to identify unusually high water use or leaks.

This support is confidential.

As a final step in exceptional cases, fees or charges may be reduced or waived.

If you've been engaging with Tiaki Wai and our non-financial support options are not applicable to your situation, we may explore temporary financial relief, such as:

  • one off adjustments
  • short term relief of specific charges
  • temporary deferral of charges.

This is not automatic, but it is available where it will prevent things from getting worse.

Talking to us early can help avoid overdue fees, prevent escalation, and open up support options to suit your needs. Contact us to request hardship support:

  • Online
  • Phone: 0800 TIAKI WAI (0800 842 549)



Download our Hardship Policy overview

Download our full Debtors Management and Hardship/Waivers Policy

Independent support 

You can always get free and confidential advice from independent services that do the mahi to help you improve your financial wellbeing.

For example, Money Talks:

Other useful first-line contacts include: