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Water charges kick in tomorrow. Find out how much you'll be paying...

The average annual household bill will be €238.

THE COMMISSIONER FOR Energy Regulation has finalised what households will be paying for water from tomorrow.

The annual charges for a household with one adult will be €176 and an extra €102 for every extra person living there for both water supply and wastewater services.

In a notice this morning, it said that customers of Irish Water will have their metered charges capped at an assessed rate for the first nine months of use. This period is three months longer than previously announced.

There were three other key changes to the water charges plan following the public consultation period, during which 345 responses were received.

The CER confirmed that households which are supplied with water that is “unfit for human consumption” will receive a 100% discount. The exemption kicks in 24 hours after the boil notice is put in place.

The document spells out:

“In other words, there will be no water supply charge to customers in this case. This compares with the public consultation where a 50% reduction was proposed for up to three months and a 100% reduction only applied thereafter.”

However, these customers will continue to be charged for their wastewater.

If a customer’s metered water is less than the assessed consumption used in the charge, a rebate will be given to the customer after six months.

The annual minimum charge for a combined water supply and wastewater service at a
non-primary/holiday/summer residence has been reduced from €160 to €125 per annum, or €62.50 per service per annum.

The majority of the Water Charges Plan has not changed from the earlier consultation.

Some key points:

  • The metered rates are €2.44 per thousand litres for one service and €4.88 for both services.
  • A children’s free allowance of 21,000 litres per annum will be available per child.
  • Assessed charges are based on the number of adults in a household. This equates to a charge of €176 for a household with one adult and approximately an extra €102 for every extra adult living in the household, for both water services.
  • If a customer doesn’t have a water meter installed yet, the customer will be on an assessed charge.
  • Customers with water meters installed will have consumption-based charges, but their bill will be capped at the above assessed charges for 9 months.
  • If Irish Water identifies a water leak in a customer’s premises having installed the meter, the customer’s charges will be capped at the assessed charge until the leak is fixed.
  • Customers with medical conditions which require increased water consumption will be capped at the assessed charge if they have a meter installed. Any water consumed above the assessed charge level will be free of charge.

The combined water and wastewater services bill for a household of two adults will be €278 per year.

That is €38 higher than an estimate given by announced by then Environment Minister Phil Hogan earlier this year.

However — speaking this morning, Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin denied that the Government had misled taxpayers.

“There was a number of variables involved,” Howlin said. “Our big objective was to ensure that Irish Water remained as a commercial company off-balance sheet — so the income stream had to meet European and CSO statistics for that.

“So until we actually knew the exact number of households and the composition of each household we couldn’t be completely exact but as an estimate it was a very close estimate to the actual charge people will be making.”

A breakdown of the assessed charges which are set until 31 December 2016:

PastedImage-93432

Read: Sinn Féin say they’d abolish your water charges… But their alternative plan is a little short on detail

PHOTOS: 11 people arrested during an ‘unofficial protest’ over water charges

Minister: Households with undrinkable water could be in line for a bigger discount

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142 Comments
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    Mute Mick Hannigan
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    May 10th 2015, 9:02 AM

    Personally I have a Z3 and find the screen well big enough, any bigger would for me just be a pain to carry around, but it’s personal choice really,

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    Mute Will Derbylight
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    May 10th 2015, 9:50 AM

    MH, your last point was very helpful….

    10
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    Mute Mick Hannigan
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    May 10th 2015, 10:35 AM

    Will thanks for the compliment, happy it was useful to you as I can see you needed it based on your comment

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    Mute Tallaght two
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    May 10th 2015, 11:58 AM

    I have a note 4 and it is a great phone. Size isn’t a problem… in fact I look at the iPhone 5 or regular 6 and they look way too small now.

    My point is you get accustomed very very quickly to the larger screen size.

    I have never used pure android but find the Samsung stuff really good so far.

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    Mute patrick fagan
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    May 10th 2015, 12:31 PM

    I’ve a one plus one it’s the best phone out there

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    Mute Robbie O'Flynn
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    May 11th 2015, 2:18 PM

    Completely agree. At half the price of the above phone, don’t understand how ppl can justify it. Really hope the OnePlus drives down the cost of the rest of the phone.

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    Mute Fintan Stack
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    May 10th 2015, 9:05 AM

    The current 6 is poor. Loose screen and shadow on the screen.

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    Mute Fergal Kelly
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    May 10th 2015, 9:42 AM

    Too big a screen.. Unnecessary imo

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    Mute Chris
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    May 10th 2015, 11:22 AM

    I use an LG G2 32GB, paid €260 online. Superb phone, decent screen, great camera, awesome battery life…voted best smartphone of 2013. Can’t recommend highly enough :)

    http://mobile.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/mobile-phone/3471896/lg-g2-review/

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    Mute Stuart
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    May 10th 2015, 11:51 AM

    It’s 2015.

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    Mute Patitas
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    May 10th 2015, 9:27 PM

    It is not the size what matters, it is what you do with it.

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    Mute Mick lennon
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    May 10th 2015, 9:51 AM

    Rubbish phones the nexus,only hipsters or developers have any use for them

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    Mute onlybuzzinwitcha
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    May 10th 2015, 10:02 AM

    Clearly you never used one. I had the S4 Google Play Edition and it was amazingly smooth, fast and simple. The big bonus for me was that it was free of Samsung ‘s bloated software. While it was simple (but still customisable but not to the extent of samsung), the software was so good that I didn’t feel the need to change every nook and cranny.

    I happened to break that one so I bought an S4 again(2 months ago!!) and rooted it with the software. It’s even better when rooted. And it’s just as fast as the new phones now. Not bad for a 2yr old phone.

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    Mute Adrian O'Donnell
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    May 10th 2015, 12:53 PM

    My original nexus 5′s battery died while still within warranty and Google were very quick to send a replacement to me so kudos to them and that’s another good reason to purchase a handset from the play store. It’s still a very zippy phone after the lollipop update and I have to admit I’m delighted with it. Being free of carrier and manufacturer bloatware is a bonus, although Google have gone to town with their own car seat of apps, which, incidentally, you are unable to uninstall. The 6 is a bit too phablet for me personally. My best mate has the oneplus one and although it is very cool, it’s just too bloody big!!!

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    Mute Jonny Lennon
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    May 10th 2015, 12:32 PM

    one plus one is indeed a smashing phone especially after the Lollipop update.

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    Mute Chris
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    May 10th 2015, 12:28 PM

    I could get the G3 (2015) and spend an extra 400 euro for essentially the same phone (give or take a few tweaks) but that woyld be pretty brain dead.

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    Mute Damien
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    May 10th 2015, 3:09 PM

    None of the networks are carrying it.
    I’d switch to bill pay in a heartbeat if they have this phone :(

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