Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Surely, the roll-out of meters has resulted in a significant saving by making consumers more aware of how much water they are using. If we are to go with the commission's recommendation that consumers be charged for excessive use, as Irish Water has outlined, we will have no way of knowing how a household is performing. I would hate to think of how this committee would manage if 58% of households in the country did not have a meter because we would have no statistics showing how we could improve. It costs €1 or thereabouts to treat a litre of water. We are talking about treated water; the water that falls out of the sky is not free. It is an important point on which to finish.