Half yearly water rates bills, including one over $6500, have caused some shock reactions from Whakatāne ratepayers this week.

A post by truck driver Mark Law on Whakatāne Matters community Facebook page saying a friend had received a $4000 water rates bill resulted in almost 100 comments.

While Law told the Beacon that the high rates demand had turned out to be because of a water leak that seeped away and didn’t surface, further comments revealed 11 further people whose latest water rates bill had run to over $500.

Former Beacon reporter Sven Carlsson, who commented about a $6581 water rates bill, said that according to the rates bill for the property where he lived, they had used 2261 cubic metres of water. This is almost the same quantity as an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

Carlsson said this equated to 12 cubic metres a day, or 500 litres an hour.

“Our normal usage is 0.381 cubic metres per day. One suspects there might have been changes to the computer systems that measures and does invoicing.”

Other bills mentioned include a 76-year-old with a $2400 bill, and bills of $2800, $1200, $950, $900, $800 and $700.

Mr Law told the Beacon that in previous professions, where he had experience in water metering systems, the best way to check for a water leak on your property was to first turn off all the water in the house.

“Then look at the meter, and if it is still ticking around, you have a water leak and will need to call a plumber.”

Whakatāne District Council said it could not comment on individual customer accounts for privacy reasons.

Three Waters transition director Nic Johansson said staff were looking into the matters and working with water, rates and customer services teams to understand the cases.

“Water rates and invoicing can be complex, and there is rarely a single explanation that applies to every property.”

He encouraged customers who believe their water usage is unusually high or low, or who have concerns about a meter reading, to contact customer services.

“We can check and verify meter readings and work through individual circumstances directly with the customer.”

Johansson said one of the most common causes of unexpectedly high-water usage is a leak on the property.

Customers who have repaired a qualifying leak may be eligible for a water leakage remission. Information about detecting leaks and applying for a remission is available on our website.