Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Earlier this week CER officials appeared before the Joint Committee on Environment, Community and Local Government to discuss the issue of water tariffs in order that we could drill down into them and be satisfied about the various components that are being considered to price water provision. These include fairness, customer protection and so on, but a fair assessment of the meeting is that much of the data the CER is using are not scientific. For example, the representatives could not tell us the difference between the cost of producing water and the cost of treating wastewater. This was their explanation for water in amounting to 50% of the cost and water out also amounting to 50% of the cost. Some people do not, and will not, avail of the water service. Is this fair?

There is a confusion about the call-out charge. This charge is not fair. The allowances are also an issue, for example, for the number of litres of water people use, the allowance for children and so on. I am not being critical of the regulator but the officials have been given a timeframe and an assortment of ingredients to come with charges. We do not have sufficient information at this time to operate solely on a metered system.

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