THE COMMISSION FOR Energy Regulation (CER) has today published details of its proposals for water charges.

As was expected, charges would only apply to adults and the government will cover costs of water use for children.

Under the proposals, an average charge of €176 will have to be paid by every household with one adult using both water and wastewater disposal services and an additional €102 will apply for each adult after that.

A household with five adults will see an average charge of €584 for both services. An average family of two adults and two children will pay €278.

The metered rates are €2.44 per thousand litres for one service and €4.88 for both services.

Customers with water meters installed will have consumption-based charges, but their bill will be capped at these average charges for six months from the meter being installed. This means that during this time, if a customer has a meter, charges will be no higher than this and they may be lower.

• Customers with specific medical conditions which require increased water consumption will be capped at the assessed charge if they have a meter installed. Any water consumed above that level will be free of charge.
• Where water is unfit for human consumption, affected customers will receive a 50% discount on the water supply charge for the duration of the restriction, and a 100% water supply discount if the disruption is longer than three months.
• The CER also stated that if Irish Water identifies a leak in a customer’s premises after a meter is installed, charges will be capped until it is fixed.
• If a customer doesn’t have a water meter installed yet, they will be on an assessed, or average charge.

Irish Water costs

Irish water had proposed to recoup €2.2 billion over the next two years to cover costs or providing services but the CER said this should be cut by 8.2% to ensure that “only efficient costs are recovered from customers”.

The average annual costs of providing water services for a household are €594. Given the 8.2% cut made by the CER, the average annual water and wastewater charge for all types of households is €238. The Commission said:

Not all households are the same size, or use water in the same way; some will use more, some less. This means that customers’ bills will vary depending on the number of people in the household and how much water they actually use.

The CER also said that it will monitor Irish Water’s expenditure to “ensure it delivers value for money”.

Commenting today, CER Commissioner Paul McGowen said he welcomed public input into these proposals and a final decision will be made in September. However the charges proposed today are not likely to be significantly altered by then.

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