Latest news with #Checkpoint
RNZ News
3 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Woman had to beg to pay hefty Watercare bill in instalments after issue with faulty smart meter
The faulty meters means some customers had been getting zero use bills for months. Photo: Nunnicha Supagrit A Watercare customer says she had to beg to pay off a huge catch-up bill in instalments after a faulty smart meter gave her zero-use bills for months. The issue stemmed from Watercare's smart meters, which it told Checkpoint more than 13,000 of were not working . The water supplier had known about problems with one type of smart meter since October last year, and the fault had so far affected about one third of the 40,000 meters installed since 2022. Hamideh, from West Auckland's Henderson, told Checkpoint, she had complained to Watercare more than once about an issue with her smart meter which began in November last year, but while waiting for the issue to be fixed she was sent a bill to the amount of $219. "It was shocking - I was not prepared for it." She had lost her job a few months ago and knew she wouldn't be able to afford to pay off the bill in one go. "I called Watercare and asked to pay in instalments and they said no, not possible. I explained I lost my job and was told that I should have saved for it." After about 25 minutes on the phone, Hamideh said it was accepted she could pay in instalments. "But there's still no reading on my water meter. I was quite pissed off when she told me I had to save for it. "They told me the meter just stopped syncing data... they didn't communicate the problem with their customers. It's been seven months and no solution." Watercare chief financial officer Angela Neeson told Checkpoint she was really sorry to hear about Hamideh's experience and said it needed resolving. "That it's taken seven months to resolve does sound unusual." Neeson said when Watercare realised there was an issue with the smart meters processes were put in place to identify when the meters started to become faulty. "The process does take a couple of months because the first month of a zero read could just be someone on holiday or out of the house but after the second month we move the customer to a manual read," she said. She acknowledged there was nothing on the Watercare website about the faulty meters and said Watercare had "been focused on liasing with the customers". "We watch for month two to identify when there is potentially a faulty meter." Watercare had now stopped installing that particular meter, Neeson confirmed but she did not give a timeline on how long it would take to replace the faulty ones. "We will always look and how we can do better and we're considering whether we don't wait that one month after a zero read to investigate so that it shortens that period for customers. "We are always looking at how we can do things better". Neeson confirmed water bills would increase 7.2 percent at the start of July which she said reflected the cost of running the operations and becoming financially independent. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
3 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Music licenser chasing up hundreds of businesses for playing music in the workplace
All commercial businesses, including offices and trade sites, are required to pay a licencing fee, with any music played for non-personal use. (File photo) Photo: Eric Nopanen / Unsplash A music licensing organisation is chasing up hundreds of businesses a week asking them to pay-up for the tunes they are using, so that artists get what they are owed. OneMusic licences certain music for use in commerical settings like pubs, club, offices, hairdressers, gym and factories, nearly anything outside of personal use. Charges vary, playing the radio in a factory with 72 workers would cost $49 a month for licence, a gym with 500 members would pay about $104 dollars a month. OneMusic Director, Greer Davies told Checkpoint music licencing had been around for a while, and the company saw a huge lack of awareness from businesses. "It comes down to a lack of education and so our team are continually contacting businesses to educate them about the use of music and their legal requirements for music creators." "OneMusic's been around for 13 years but music licencing existed prior to that as well, and it's an it's an education that we need to take people on." Davies said they were speaking to hundreds of different businesses a week, aiming to educate them about the licencing programme. One of those business owners was a Hawkes Bay florist who told Checkpoint she was called by OneMusic to see if she was paying licence fees , which she wasn't. Francie Croy said she listened to the radio on her phone out the back of her Waipukurau shop, but the music licensing organisation told her she must buy a licence or turn the music off. "No one out front of the shop can hear it, but she said to me that I would still have a licence to have to do that because sometimes Newstalk ZB plays music." She said after the phone call she was sent another email from OneMusic. "It was a certificate thing, saying this is confirmation that you have advised us that you do not play music in your business and will not play music represented by this place. "It includes television, radio stations, apps, digital music services, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, CD's, DVD's, Blu-ray, vinyl and cassette tapes, and the list goes on." Croy said she had no idea that being charged for playing music at her business was even a possibility. All commercial businesses, including offices and trade sites, were required to pay the licencing fee, with any music played for non-personal use. Although the licence covered a large variety of circumstances, Davies said they had a specific focus on a group of businesses. "Our current focus is educating business owners across hospitality, retail, service providers and exercise." Croy said she was shocked by the request from OneMusic, which a few other businesses in the area also received. She said it seemed unlikely that someone from OneMusic had visited her small store in Waipukurau, and thought they must be sending random emails. Davies said the company had representatives visiting shops to vet whether they were playing music unlicensed. "These representatives carry out a range of tasks for us, some verifying music that's being played and identified the source of that music. They also check new businesses that may have opened in vacant locations that we've been unable to reach." She said the fees from the licence go towards artists to ensure they are paid for their music and OneMusic was partnered with APRA AMCOS and Recorded Music NZ, who pass the costs onto the artists. "Each of those organisations distribute the revenue that OneMusic earns on their behalf, but about 85 cents every dollar is distributed." Davies said for those that fail to pay for a licence there could be consequences, often resulting in fines. "Generally a business owner will understand the legal obligation and obtain the relevant licence, but reluctantly, if they don't, we will pursue and potentially end up in court." "The most recent court cases were in 2018 and 2019, and the damages were around about $15,000, $18,000." The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment said OneMusic licensed copyright works and MBIE did not have oversight of the scheme. It said businesses that play music for their staff and/or customers need a licence and the licensing fees paid are distributed to producers and recording artists. "If a business does not wish to pay any licensing fee to play music, they should not play music. To do so without a licence means the copyright owner may sue the business and award damages. "A business who wishes to dispute the terms and conditions of the scheme may make an application to the Copyright Tribunal. If the Tribunal determines that the licensing scheme is unfair it may order changes," it said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
1News
3 days ago
- General
- 1News
Faulty Akl water meters sees some overcharged, others with zero fees
A number of Aucklanders have received Watercare bills that say they've used zero water, while others claim they're being overcharged. The zero fee bills claim customers have not used a single drop in the past month or in some cases for months. The issue stems from Watercare's smart meters, which it told Checkpoint more than 13,000 of are not working. The water supplier also said they've known about problems with one type of smart meter since October last year, and the fault has so far affected around one-third of the 40,000 meters installed since 2022. Greg is one customer who has been receiving zero fee bills, the first one arriving in May. ADVERTISEMENT "We got the bill that said we had used no water and there was just the sort of standard monthly charge. And I just thought oh well, they've forgotten to read it or they haven't got around to reading it. And I just made a note that the next bill was gonna be bigger and then the next bill came and once again we'd used no water." Greg contacted Watercare about the issue, who told him his smart metre must not be working. "They said could you take a photo of the metre and then we can send you the proper bill. And I said, well, no, that's not possible because I've had knee surgery. I can't get down to take a photo." He was then told the water supplier could send someone out to take the photo for him, but it would cost $35. He said he was yet to receive the correct bill but had been told they would now be reading his meter manually. Kyle was on to his second smart meter after the first one stopped sending signal a few months ago. But he told Checkpoint his water bills were now coming in much higher than he would expect. "Our water bill on average was about $100 or $120 a month and then it jumped to about $200 and I'm like 'yeah, no, that doesn't seem quite right'. ADVERTISEMENT "[Watercare] were basing it on estimates from the previous water bill, which would have been around summer, and me being a gardener, I obviously used a bit more water." Kyle said Watercare made no effort to contact him about the issue, and it was him who raised it with the agency. He said they came back to him and told him his meter had temporarily stopped communicating. "They used the word temporary, but if it was temporary, then why are they replacing it?" He said he was still waiting to have the issue resolved. "I disputed it initially. Sent them a photo of the meter, heard nothing back for them... then I sent them the photo and said, 'hey, can I please get a bill amended?' They said it would take three to five working days and I'm still waiting for it." Watercare's head of retail operations Evan James said the fault means the meter eventually stops sending data but keeps recording water use. ADVERTISEMENT Watercare stopped installing that particular model and started returning affected meters to manual reading, leading to ''catch up'' bills that are higher than previous months. He said Watercare sincerely apologised for the inconvenience and it was offering payment options to help ease the impact. Utilities Disputes told Checkpoint they would expect Watercare to inform customers if it was aware of issues with meters, and explore the options, like letting customers know they can self-report their use to avoid significant back bills. Watercare has around 500,000 meters and of these, around 70,000 are smart meters.
RNZ News
4 days ago
- General
- RNZ News
Aucklander's recieving zero use water bills
infrastructure 19 minutes ago Some Aucklanders have recieved watecare bills that claim they have not used a sinlge drop of water in the past month, or in some cases for months, no showers had, no toilets flushed, no house plant watered, no kettles filled; nothing. Online forums confused customers are asking about recieving zero use bills, others say they've had enormous catch up accounts months after gettting zero bills, all due to Watercare's smart metres. Checkpoint spoke to a few customers.
Scoop
17-06-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Current Sick Leave Entitlements ‘Manifestly Unfair'
An Auckland business owner says it is adding a significant burden in tough economic times. Checkpoint An Auckland business owner has described current sick leave entitlements 'manifestly unfair', adding it is a significant burden in tough economic times. In 2021 minimum paid sick leave for workers went from five to 10 days regardless of how often a person works. The government has confirmed it is changing the law to a pro-rata system, or proportional leave, where sick day allowances will be different for part and full-time workers depending on how many hours or days they work. The exact detail is yet to be decided. Kathy Aspden, who owns an entertainment business told Checkpoint her sick leave costs have increased 400 percent since the allowance doubled. 'In 2019 we had people taking 64 sick days off and that was basically about. 0.9 percent of our total wage bill. In 2025, we had 278.5 sick days and that was 2.4 percent of our total wage bill. Our costs went from $10,000 to $50,000,' she said. 'We have found that since the sick leave, entitlement has increased the number of people, the actual sick leave that's being used has increased as well.' Aspden said she supports the government push to switch to a proportional system. 'We have a lot of part time staff and having a person who works for us one day a week, being entitled to 10 days sick leave every year just doesn't feel proportionate. It basically means that they can have 20 percent of the year off sick, which doesn't happen very often to be honest. But every now and then it does get abused.' Aspden's company currently has around 50 part-time workers on its books, some working over 30 hours, others just one or two days a week. She said that due to the nature of the service industry, when one worker was off, another had to be brought in to cover, contributing to the company's costs. 'All businesses are doing it really tough at the moment and especially hospitality and entertainment businesses. We've been in the business for over 30 years now and I can't remember a time when it's been so difficult for businesses,' she said. 'All of these additional costs that we're having to fund really don't help us at all.' However, she said the reason sick leave taken by staff had increased so dramatically was hard to pinpoint. 'Since Covid people are more conscious of taking time off if they are sick and we fully encourage that the last thing we want is someone sick coming into work and making the rest of our team sick.' 'At the same time, we do have some people who are abusing it and just not really treating us fairly.' Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Checkpoint yesterday she had been looking at sick leave changes alongside ongoing work to replace the Holidays Act. She did not disclose whether the changes would be based on the days or hours people were working. But said she believed someone who worked 'what we expect to be a full week', would have the full entitlement, including someone who worked 40 hours in four days. Van Velden didn't give any evidence on how much sick leave part-timers were currently taking. 'That's not the reason behind doing this change,' she said. 'It's to do with whether it's right, and is it right that someone who is working one day a week is entitled to the same sick leave allocation as someone who works five days a week – that's what we are basing this policy on, whether it's right.'
