Section 36 Annual Consent Monitoring Charges

The administration fee contributes to the costs council incurs in undertaking its consenting, monitoring and administrative functions required under the RMA. This includes maintaining consent and compliance information, reviewing annual charges and ensuring information on our databases and files is accurate and current. 

The administration fee is charged as part of the ongoing costs associated with being a consent holder and having the ability to reserve the right to use or carry out a consent.

The fees are based on the consent held by the property owner and often neighbours have different consents. If you believe that your neighbour should also be liable for this charge, please provide full details to our customer services team on free phone 0508 800 800 and we will look into it.

Monitoring of the state of the environment and its natural resources, including the effectiveness of policies to manage these resources, is a requirement of Regional Council’s under the Resource Management Act. Council has determined that consent holders directly benefit from these natural resources, and so should directly contribute to monitoring and research that is carried out.   

The individual compliance fee (separately charged) covers the costs of monitoring a holder’s individual consent. 

The research charges contribute towards the costs incurred by Horizons in researching and identifying the cumulative impact on our environment of all such activities across our region.  Information gained from this research can also be used by applicants during the resource consent application process.  

This research is essential for our many regional organisations, farms and other industries, who are dependent on this information.  Further, the findings enable us to continue to provide communities and users with ongoing services, including water for recreational use, clean drinking water and a healthy habitat for native fish.   

By maintaining and further developing knowledge of our region’s natural resources, the interests of the consent holder, the needs of the wider regional community and the resource itself are all protected.

Horizons Regional Councillors have determined through the Annual Plan process that consent holders will be charged a Fixed Annual Preliminary Compliance Charge (FAPCC) for consent monitoring based on the type of activity carried out on site.  For sites with more than one consented activity the FAPCC will be for the main activity and charged at the time the consents monitoring is carried out by Horizons.

The FAPCC accounts for costs associated with the first compliance assessment. Any further time required to undertake monitoring of an activity is recovered through additional charges based on actual and reasonable costs. Additional charges (over and above the annual preliminary charge) will also account for extra compliance monitoring (including site visits, sampling, assessment, reporting and follow up processes), which is required as a result of non-compliance with consent conditions.

The resource consent annual administration charge fee of $50 (excluding GST) per consent contributes to the costs Council incurs in undertaking its consenting, monitoring and administrative functions required under the Resource Management Act 1991.

You have two or additional consent numbers because we moved to a new consents database – this required all existing consents to be renumbered.  To avoid confusion we have included both (old and new) numbers this year so that you are aware of the new number. 

You are only billed for the consent/s you hold or have held this financial year – there is no double billing.
Your consent/s are shown on the invoice as:  New Consent No ATH-1993000762.00 (formerly 3381).

The terms of your current consent ensure that your right for the full water take amount is reserved. All such charges are based on the maximum authorised daily allowance regardless of the actual volume that the consent holder may choose to take.

You may wish to consider varying your consent to a lower consented volume in order to reduce these research charges in the future. This would require a variation to your consent. To arrange this, please contact our Consents team on freephone 0508 800 800.

For all enquiries call 0508 800 800 and they will direct you to a staff member who can help.

Your invoice refers to the 12 month period 1 July 2025 - 30 June 2026. These invoices are issued annually.

Cleaner, safer water both now and for the future. Water quantity, surface and groundwater resources are managed to ensure there is an adequate supply for consent holders, the wider community and for aquatic wildlife.

By researching the effects of all current resource consents including your own, the Council is able to ensure that such consents can be effectively maintained, while sustainably managing the environment now and for the future.

Extensive monitoring is undertaken by the consents monitoring team and other Horizons staff of activities associated with:
•    District Council, farm and industry water discharges and abstractions
•    Monitoring land use activities (intensive farming, vegetation clearance and gravel extractions)
•    Inspecting and assessing data and reporting on the results.

Monitoring of your resource consent to determine compliance may include:
•    Site inspections (these may be tri- or bi-annual, annual or more frequently if required)
•    Assessing daily or monthly water and gravel abstraction data
•    Assessment of formal reports sent in by consent holders (quarterly or annually)
•    Assessing resource consent activities in response to public complaints.

This monitoring ensures that resource consent conditions are being complied with and:
•    Supports fair distribution of the water resources throughout our region
•    Ensures land use activities are being undertaken in a sustainable manner
•    The potential for environmental impacts from discharges is minimised.

If the consent conditions are not complied with, there are additional charges which are invoiced at the time of the non-compliance.
*These charges are typically recovered on a staff time per hour rate.

The terms of your current consent ensure that your right for the full water take amount is reserved.  All such charges are based on the maximum authorised daily allowance regardless of the actual volume that the consent holder may choose to take.  You may wish to consider varying your consent to a lower consented volume in order to reduce these research charges in the future.  This would require a variation to your consent.

Research and monitoring charges are determined by Horizons' elected Councillors following a public consultation process.

You can make submissions on Council’s Draft Annual Plan during the consultation process generally in the first third of each year, and during the three-yearly Long-term Plan consultation process. For further information on how to get involved, please contact our Customer Services team on freephone 0508 800 800.  

The charges are set out in the Long-term Plan 2024-34. All holders of permits for surface and groundwater takes are charged a $ 32.05 fixed fee, plus a rate of $0.75 per cubic metre of the authorised maximum daily (not annual) water take volume (as documented in the resource consent).

NOTE: Charges in the Long Term Plan are GST excluded.

The total annual science and research cost to Horizons, including charges for fixed equipment, computer software, laboratory costs, staffing and research undertaken to inform resource management is approximately $6.9 million. Thirty percent (30%) of the cost of water quality monitoring and research is funded by consent holders through the research charges, with the balance (70%) being funded through the General Rate. 

Section 36 of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA), Section 243 of the Building Act 2004, and Section 150 of the Local Government Act 2002 (LGA) enable local authorities to fix charges for various administrative and monitoring activities.  

Horizons Regional Council sets its Section 36 charges every year through the Annual Plan process and issues them to consent holders to support our consent monitoring work and our science, research, and environmental monitoring activities. 

Depending on your consent, you may get charges relating to one or all of the following: compliance monitoring charges, research and monitoring charges, an annual administration charge and/or water metering programme charge.

Section 36 charges are levied each year unless the consent you hold is cancelled, expired, or transferred. If your details have changed or you wish to surrender a consent, please contact our Regulatory Administration team on freephone 0508 800 800.

If you have recently sold your business (eg. farm or meat processing plant), the resource consents do not automatically get transferred as part of the normal sale and purchase process. To arrange a transfer, please contact our consents team on freephone 0508 800 800.

Please note you will continue to receive the compliance monitoring fee and science and research charges for the resource consents until the transfer is carried out.

All ratepayers, both rural and residential, fund a portion of both the compliance and research charges through the general rating system, including:

• 70 percent share of the research costs

• 20 to 35 percent of the compliance costs

Horizons records and processes a range of information about water in our region. This data feeds into research that helps us understand trends and track progress and risk over time.

One way we do this is via our water metering programme. This programme collects data via industry reporting and telemetry units attached to flow meters, which are conditions of some water-take resource consents.

Managing our region’s water use is one way to ensure we achieve our community outcomes of healthy ecosystems and a thriving economy.

It’s a delicate balance between managing our community’s desire to use water resources for commercial purposes, such as water supply, industry, and primary production, which support the regional economy, and our responsibility to sustain them for healthy habitats and recreational use.

We have been monitoring water use activity at sites across the region since 2003.

Resource consent holders taking over five litres per second (l/s) are subject to monitoring as a condition of their consent. A very small number of consent holders taking under 5 l/s are also subject to specific conditions on their consent.

Most water-take consent holders who are subject to monitoring conditions are required to have a telemetry unit fitted to a flow meter on their water-take system.

Consent holders are responsible for installing and maintaining the flow meter/s to their water take system. Horizons endorses the use of Irrigation New Zealand ‘Blue Tick’ accredited suppliers for this work. The Horizons Environmental Data team will then connect a telemetry unit to the flow meter. The telemetry units automatically return data measured by the flow meter back to Horizons via the Horizons network.

Horizons Environmental Data team supplies, installs, and maintains these telemetry units across the region. This enables Horizons to verify the water-use data and ensure the units operate properly.

Resource consent holders can access their data online via the WaterMatters tool on the Horizons website. The data helps consent holders:

• Comply with their resource consent conditions

• Identify leaks in their water infrastructure and improve water efficiency

In addition, Horizons’ technicians are on-site, inspecting our telemetry units and validating the data to ensure it is robust and fit for purpose.

You can view water-use data at envirodata.horizons.govt.nz.

From the WaterMatters section of the Horizons website you can view general water use information such as where flow restrictions are occurring and how actual water use compares to the amount of water consented.

Consent holders can look up more specific water use information.

The region’s water-use data is collected, validated and processed according to requirements under the Resource Management Act (Measurement and Reporting of Water Takes) Regulations 2010 and National Environmental Monitoring Standards.

These robust data sets help inform Council decisions about water allocation, resource availability, and wider catchment health.

Until 2024, the programme was funded via a combination of Horizons’ general rate (70%) and Section 36 charges (30%).

However, through the 2024-34 Long Term Plan, the Council consulted on and voted to move to a 100% user-pays model, bringing this service in line with our other consent monitoring charges. These charges are listed on page 328 of Horizons Long Term Plan 2024-34.

The change brings this service in line with our other consent monitoring charges.

The charge will cover the costs of running Horizons’ water metering programme, including flow meter validation visits, fault repairs, industry engagement, telemetry and data management associated with water take/s.

From the 2024-25 financial year, an annual charge of $750 + GST will apply to each resource consent associated with a water-take or takes over 5 l/s. A small number of consent holders taking under 5 l/s will also need to pay the charge.

The charge is in addition to existing Section 36 charges for surface and groundwater takes.

If you wish to surrender a water take consent, please get in touch with us via email Section36Enquiries@horizons.govt.nz or HRCRegulatoryAdmin@horizons.govt.nz or phone 0508 800 800.

When selling or transferring ownership of a property it is important to ensure any resource consent details are also transferred.

To arrange this, email us on Section36Enquiries@horizons.govt.nz or HRCRegulatoryAdmin@horizons.govt.nz or phone 0508 800 800.