Mr. Paul McGowan:

The Water Services Act 2013 sets out that CER's function in respect of water is to protect the interests of customers. The Commission for Energy Regulation, CER, will regulate Uisce Éireann so that customers are provided with a high-quality service via codes of practice and Uisce Éireann provides water services in an economical, viable and efficient manner. The legislation also places other duties on CER, and these are listed in the documentation. It should also be noted that the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government has the power to issue directions to the Commission for Energy Regulation under this legislation.

The codes of practice will be one of the key instruments that CER will use to regulate the interface between the consumer and Uisce Éireann. Uisce Éireann will submit codes of practice on customer-service-related issues to CER for approval. These codes of practice will make provision for issues such as standards for Uisce Éireann in performing its functions. Standards will be set for communication and service to customers as well as water quality. The codes of practice will also cover the billing of customers for water services and how that should be done, the methods of payment available to its customers, information to be provided to customers in communications from Uisce Éireann, how customers should go about making complaints, and any other matter the CER considers necessary to protect the interests of Uisce Éireann customers. It is expected and will be a requirement that the codes of practice are freely available online and accessible to customers and that the CER can issue a direction to Uisce Éireann to comply with those codes.

The CER will consult upon the codes of practice and other issues during 2014 and has set out timeframes for this. We will issue the following public consultations. In April we will set out our views on options for the structuring of water charges and customer protection issues and invite the public to engage in the process of consultation. In June we will issue a consultation that will set out proposed water charge levels based on submissions from Uisce Éireann. In July 2014, we will issue a decision on the codes of practice and other customer protection matters and in August we will issue a decision on the structure of water charges and the water charge levels.

Our broad remit is to protect the interests of water customers. The CER will aim for a high-quality and efficient public water system. Our focus is to ensure that only efficient operating and capital costs will be passed through to customers. We will achieve this by using benchmarking with best international practice.