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.
Latest Webinars
From Manual to Modern: Behind the Scenes with Hamilton City Council and Payble
Earlier this year, we shared how Hamilton City Council partnered with Payble to offer more flexible payment options to their ratepayers and reduce manual workloads. During this webinar we took a look behind the scenes to explore how the Hamilton team brought Payble to life - from implementation to day-to-day operations.
The Arrears Apocalypse: Who’s Paying the Price in Victoria?
Victoria is facing aperfect storm in council rate collections, with unpaid rates reaching astaggering state average of 10.44% and a 32% surge in arrears volume since 2023.
