The CER is expected to determine the level of water charges in August.
The Government's decisions include:
• Irish Water will receive Government subvention in 2015 and 2016, conditional on the average domestic water charge not exceeding €240 per year
• Free Allowances
• Each household will receive an annual free allowance of 30,000 litres of water (and a corresponding allowance for waste water) per year
• Households will receive an additional free allowance for every child under 18 to cover a child's normal consumption of water supplied and waste water treated – (this will be up to 38,000 litres per annum- the level of consumption underpinning this allowance to be verified from actual metering data provided to the CER); effectively, water charges will only apply to adults.
The Minister intends using his powers under the Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013, to issue a policy direction to the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) requiring:
• The domestic water tariff to remain fixed until end 2016
• There will be no standing charge for domestic customers for social and environmental reasons (a minimum charge may be applied to properties that are not permanently occupied – e.g. holiday homes)
• Assessed charges will be based primarily on occupancy (and will possibly be refined based on data from metered usage) to ensure that they are as close a proxy for metered usage as possible
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• The CER to ensure provision for retrospective adjustment of charges, including a rebate (above a reasonable threshold), in the context of transitional arrangements for people moving from assessed to metered charges
• Charges to be capped for people with high water usage due to certain medical conditions (these conditions to be determined in consultation with the Minister for Health)
• Irish Water to take account of the quality of services provided to customers, including circumstances where services are reduced or restricted (e.g. due to boil water notices)
• An additional €200m over two years for Irish Water's capital investment – to include a free first fix scheme, providing each household with a free fix of the first leak on a customer's water supply pipe. Irish Water will be outlining its proposed capital programme, subject to CER approval, in the coming weeks
• Adjustment of the Government subsidy of group water schemes to align subvention with the free allowance approach towards households on public water supplies to – ensure households in this sector receive equivalent support, while allowing for any transitional issues, to sustain improvements in quality in the group water sector
• An accelerated Metering Programme with programme completion likely to be ahead of the target (mid 2016 rather than end 2016). In addition, a programme will be finalised in the coming weeks to allow customers to "opt-in" (i.e. where the householders themselves know/identify the connection points). The Department is also exploring with Irish Water the potential to include a new phase of metering of some 48,000 apartments, which can be easily metered as part of a separate procurement.
Minister Hogan said: "I welcome Government approval of this generous free allowance for every household. The Government has structured the free allowance in a way that reflects variations in household size and supports affordability.
"In particular, households with large families, or single occupants – two groups highlighted by the work of an inter-Departmental group on affordability measures and the ESRI as potentially vulnerable to affordability issues – are being protected.
"I also intend to use my powers to issue directions to the Regulator under the Water Services (No. 2 Act) 2013, on policy matters, to ensure that water charges are capped for people with high water usage due to certain medical conditions. This will include people on home kidney dialysis, and further work is underway to define other qualifying conditions.
"The Regulator will finalise water charges in August but with these decisions, the conditions attached to the funding of Irish Water regarding the average annual water charge, and the fixing of charges to end of 2016, households now have high visibility in good time, as promised, of the likely level of charges. This is well in advance of billing, which will start in January 2015.
"The Government has honoured its commitment to provide a generous free allowance, with charging based on usage above this allowance. The CER has commenced public consultation on the structure of tariffs and will be closely examining Irish Water costs, to ensure that only efficiently incurred expenditure will be passed on to customers."
(CD/JP)
