Hutt City Council: NZ Rates & Water Modernisation
21,354 payment plans. $5.5M processed. Not one loaded by hand.
Hutt City Council managed rates payments the same way for 25+ years - paper-based direct debit forms, phone-based hardship arrangements, and staff chasing dishonours one by one. Cost-of-living pressure drove arrears from 2% to over 5% of rates revenue. Direct debit uptake stalled at 42-44% despite constant promotion. And with the Local Government (Water Services) Act 2025 adding a second billing stream to an already stretched team, the status quo wasn't going to hold.
This case study documents how Hutt City went from manual to modern in a single rates cycle - reducing staff workload, supporting struggling ratepayers, and building a payment foundation ready for water reform.
What you will get
$5.5M processed in under 6 months
Hutt City processed $5.5M through a platform its rates team never had to manually manage - 7,832 successful payments across 21,354 active plans.
80.3% of ratepayers self-served on mobile
8 in 10 ratepayers set up their own payment plans via mobile without any staff involvement, returning an estimated 3,200-4,300 hours to the rates team.
4.7/5 resident satisfaction score
Average score from optional post-payment surveys. Only 5.5% of payments failed - cutting the dishonour follow-up that previously consumed staff time every cycle.
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