Am I eligible?

• Applicants must be experiencing financial hardship. This means that you are likely to have difficulty paying your Watercare arrears without affecting your ability to meet your basic living needs.
• An applicant cannot have received assistance from WUCAT in the previous 18 months.
• Applicants must not have expressly communicated a refusal to pay their bill to Watercare or be in dispute with them about the account balance.
• Applicants must appear to the Trust to be able to pay future Watercare bills if financial support for arrears and/or plumbing repairs is approved.
• Applicants with arrears under $500.00 must complete our self-disclosure household budget.
• Applicants with arrears over $500.00 must have an independent household budget completed by a WUCAT-approved budgeting service, which must be dated within the last 3 months.
• Applicants must be prepared to commit to a 3, 6 or 9-month payment plan (dependent on amount of arrears) to cover future Watercare bills.
• Beneficiaries or superannuants must be willing to set up their future payments via WINZ Redirection if requested to do so.
• All applicants must be prepared to have a free water check carried out at the property by our community partner, EcoMatters.
• All applicants must be prepared to work with WUCAT regarding possible water leaks and carry out a leak test if requested.

• Regardless of the level of arrears, all applicants requiring plumbing assistance must submit an independent household budget completed by one of our approved budgeting services.
• Applicants must obtain and submit their own repair quote completed by a qualified plumber for Trustee review/approval.

What happens next?

• An application is considered complete when our online application form is submitted via our website, followed by the required budget, and after any WUCAT queries have been satisfactorily answered.
• The application will be presented for review by WUCAT Trustees at the next available monthly meeting and applicants will be notified of the outcome in writing.
• Trustees may have further queries before an approval or decline is issued.
• Watercare is notified that an application has been received, and a hold is placed on any non-payment charges or water restrictions.
• If an application is approved, a payment plan of between 3-9 months to cover all future bills is required. This payment will be assessed on water usage over the previous 12 months. If there are existing leaks waiting for repair, an interim payment rate will be set based on occupancy, then adjusted (up or down) when actual usage is established.
• Arrears write-offs usually form part of the payment plan and will be issued at 3-month intervals providing the required payments for future bills have been consistently made.
• Failure to make regular payments will delay any write-offs until catch-up payments have been made.
• Continual failure to make the regular payments can risk the payment plan agreement being cancelled and no write-offs will be made.
• Failure to maintain the Watercare account after a payment plan has completed may risk write-offs being placed back onto the Watercare account.
• Note for Tenants and Financial Mentors: WUCAT will not write-off arrears that include Watercare fixed charges. These are not a tenant’s responsibility to pay and must be settled by a landlord or property manager prior to any metered water and wastewater write-offs granted to a tenant. Ref. s39 Residential Tenancies Act https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/DLM95084.html?search=sw_096be8ed81ef64a3_39_25_se&p=1&sr=4