Auckland Council and the Auckland Council Group (our council-controlled organisations AT, Tātaki Auckland Unlimited and Watercare) have been taking a hard look at how we use fuel, where we can make changes and fuel savings, and how increased fuel prices are affecting our budget and the everyday lives of Aucklanders.
What’s our role in the fuel supply disruption conundrum?
As a local authority, we are guided by the National Fuel Plan 2026 and current government direction, which places New Zealand at Fuel Response Phase 1 (minimal impact anticipated, but with potential to escalate). The government has confirmed that national fuel supply remains stable and that stock levels are healthy.
Essentially, like most businesses, residents and families in Tāmaki Makaurau, we’re dealing with the early impacts of the international fuel supply issue (price) and planning ahead for potential escalations of the situation (supply).
Read more about the government’s Fuel supply disruption response here.
How does fuel supply disruption affect us?
We’re a big business. Actually, we’re a big family of businesses. We work together to purchase fuel for the services that we deliver directly. This type of purchasing ensures we can get good prices and value for money – nonetheless, those prices are going up and we have to plan for how we might manage limited supply in the future.
Petrol and diesel to power buses, vehicles and machinery is not the only supply chain area we’re monitoring. Petrochemical products like the resin used to make polyethylene pipe are also part of the fuel supply chain and are products that we rely on in our infrastructure projects.
So, the cost and supply of fuel and fuel-related products, plus the impact on our staff and customers who are feeling the pinch at the petrol pump or other cost increases as a result of fuel going up, is our key focus right now.
How much fuel does the council and its services use?
The Auckland Council Group and its contractors collectively consume around tens of millions of litres of diesel every year, to deliver essential services across Tāmaki Makaurau. This fuel use supports critical frontline activities including waste collection, public transport operations, water and wastewater services, emergency response, infrastructure maintenance and other time‑critical council functions.
Auckland Transport (AT) is the council group’s largest fuel user, requiring approximately 700,000 litres of diesel per week across bus and ferry operations.
Waste collections require around 60–70,000 litres of diesel per week and areas like Healthy Waters and Flood Resilience see our stormwater operations, capital delivery and maintenance activities using around 32,000 litres per week.
Next up are our parks and facilities operational needs (like mowing, maintenance, emptying public bins and looking after our facilities and open spaces, their contractors in an average month use approximately 240,000 litres of diesel.
It’s a big step down to other fuel-dependent council services, like running our regional parks operations and our fleet vehicle pool, which serves functions like building inspections, animal management and compliance services.
What about all of those electric vehicles?
AT currently has at least 380 electric buses in its fleet and expects to have 434 on the road by the end of June. AT’s focus is on maximising use of the electric fleet while ensuring sufficient capacity across public transport services. This may mean making some changes to which buses you see on your route, but the route stays the same.
Some neighbourhoods will have seen compact little food scraps collection vehicles quietly picking up your food waste for composting. Around one third of the food scraps fleet is currently electric.
There are just over 1,000 vehicles in the council group’s fleet, covering everything we do – from parking wardens and zookeepers, to rangers and building inspectors. Some of our specialist vehicles, like utes and vans for Animal Management and Auckland Emergency Management, are petrol or diesel powered, but just over half of our fleet (51 per cent) is fully electric or battery electric hybrid.
How this affects everyone’s budget
The impact on our operating and capital costs remains dynamic and uncertain. Fuel costs sit within complex contractual arrangements and we will continue to closely manage and monitor these evolving pressures.
Because we work directly with our contract partners, we have some ability to manage any immediate impacts within our current contract arrangements.
We’re also thinking ahead and will work with the Mayor and Councillors through the Annual Budget and Long-term Plan processes to adjust strategic levers in response to emerging cost trends.
For our staff, increased prices at the petrol pump means thinking about their commute to work and the impact of increased costs on their home and family lives. We haven’t made any changes to the way we work but we have good flexible working policies in place that enable our people to work from home if their job allows, or work at other council buildings or hubs close to where they live.
And we’re acutely aware of how fuel price pressures are impacting on Aucklanders. The government has announced a temporary in-work tax credit increase of $50 in response to the recent rises to the cost of living. You can find out more from Inland Revenue.
Here are some other ways to help ease the pressure of petrol price rises:
- Public transport – leave the car at home and get on board the bus, train or ferry. Visit AT’s website and lock in all the public transport you need for a maximum of $50 per week.
- Fareshare – if you’re an employer looking to support your kaimahi with commuting costs, check out Fareshare, an easy way to subsidise work travel by bus, train or ferry where you can choose the amount you share and whether it’s weekdays or every day.
- Stretch every tank – check out what EECA, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, has to say about changing your driving habits and getting up to 20 per cent more out of a tank of gas. Look out for EECA’s fuel efficiency campaign or visit eeca.govt.nz/fuel.
- Love local. Save fuel.
- Check out the hundreds of free, low-cost and family-friendly local events on OurAuckland and Discover Auckland.
- Follow our Out and About programme on Facebook for events and activities at parks and community facilities in your neighbourhood.
- Take a hike – check out AKL Paths for walks and hikes in your area.
- Make the most of your local library – from activities for the kids to millions of library items to read, listen to, watch and learn from. Plus free wifi, exhibitions and events, and much more… visit Auckland Council Libraries.
- Upskill for free and make budget savings. Sound good? Read more here.
- Get to the pool – at Auckland Council pools, entry is free for young people aged 16 and under and in some local board areas, adults swim for free too. Visit aucklandleisure.co.nz.
What’s next?
We’ll continue to take direction from the government on its plans to manage fuel allocation during potential shortages and include that guidance in our own planning. We have provided feedback to the work that the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is doing, to help inform the settings they put in place for local government.
We’ll also keep working on our own business continuity and contingency plans. This helps us to identify the council group’s fuel-critical services and confirm potential minimum service levels.
And we will be thinking about any medium-term considerations that the council may need to make if we’re faced with fuel or cost-related delays to our capital and infrastructure programmes.