Blog

Families who refuse to register with Irish Water will be hit with bills twice what they would pay if they provided the information.

Good article again in the Irish Independent today / on Water Bills.

A couple with two children who would pay €278 under the assessed charge system will be charged €630 a year when metered charging begins next July, the Irish Independent has learned.

This is because each household which fails to provide details will lose their free allowances and be charged the full cost of drinking and waste water services.A four-person family with two children is expected to use 129,000 litres of water a year. When the “free” allowances totalling 72,000 litres are taken into account, they will be billed for the remaining 57,000 litres at €4.88 per 1,000 litres – or €278.16 a year.But if they have not registered they lose their allowances and will have to pay the full amount – or €629.52 over the year.

The financial penalties are even higher for larger families. Irish Water said details of the full cost of water services were published to show the benefits of registering.”If you don’t give us details, this is to show how much you could pay. It’s to encourage people to come forward,” a spokeswoman said.

Charge”

For every month there will be a lot of people coming off the assessed charge. (If you don’t register) You will be charged the full amount without the allowances. This is to demonstrate the value of the allowances to people.

“The water regulator, the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER), has decided that all 1.35 million customers of Irish Water will pay an assessed or average charge based on household size until next July.

But after that date, metered houses will pay based on consumption.Some 425,000 meters are already installed, meaning that these homeowners will move to metered bills from July.Some 33,000 households are expected to join each month after as meters are installed.While the default charge for unregistered customers has been set at €424 by the water regulator, this will increase when metered charges begin.

This is because the householder will have to pay for every litre of water they consume and each unit which goes into the wastewater system.Irish Water said anyone who has not received their validation forms for water charges by today should contact the company.

It warned there will be no automatic extension for anyone who fails to register by the end of the month, adding that more than two million packs had been sent to households.Anyone who had not received the packs should contact the company at 1890 448448.Anti-water charge campaigners are planning a national demonstration next Saturday, October 11, in Dublin.