Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 October 2014
536. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if long-standing individual waivers agreed by local authorities on water charges will be honoured by Irish Water; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37851/14]
Amharc ar fhreagra538. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding water charges; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37889/14]
Amharc ar fhreagra542. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the conditions under which a person will be exempt from water charges on the basis of being undrinkable or being subject to a 24-hour boiling notice. [37936/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 536, 538 and 542 together.
The Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013 provides Irish Water with the power to charge customers in respect of the services provided by it. The Act also provides that responsibility for the independent economic regulation of the water sector is assigned to the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) which has been given statutory responsibility for protecting the interests of customers of Irish Water.
Following the 9th Review of the Memorandum of Understanding with the European Commission, the IMF and the ECB, it was agreed that water charges would commence with effect from Quarter 4 2014. The proposed approach to charging was outlined by Irish Water in a water charges plan which it submitted to the CER in line with the provisions of the Act. The CER recently held a public consultation on this plan which covered a range of issues relating to water charges. Last week, the CER issued a determination on the water charges plan. Full details and associated documentation are available on the CER website ( www.cer.ie).
In its determination, the CER has decided that customers will receive a 100% discount on the water supply element of their charge where the water supplied is unfit for human consumption, once the boil water notice is in place for at least 24 hours. There will therefore be no water supply charge to customers in this case. These customers will continue to be charged for their wastewater where they are a customer of Irish Water.
It should be noted that the existing arrangements for all non-domestic customers are remaining in place with no changes for the time being. On this basis, any arrangement charitable or voluntary groups have with their local authorities will remain, and the local authorities will continue to bill for non-domestic water services as agents of Irish Water. The CER will be reviewing all aspects of non-domestic water tariffs under a series of public consultations and will publish the time-line for this process before the end of 2014.
Irish Water has established a dedicated team to deal with representations and queries from public representatives. They may be contacted via email at oireachtasmembers@water.ie or by telephone on 1890 278 278.
