Ms Cathy Mannion:

The Senator asked a number of questions about non-domestic charges and charges that are a mixture of domestic and commercial charges. I am sure the Senator is aware that there are more than 600 different charging arrangements for business so we will be looking at this carefully and will take more time to look at the detail of it. We want to make sure that we are well aware that when we are making any tariff proposals for non-domestic use, we know the price customers are paying and what price they may be paying under any proposal we may have for changing them to a different tariff regime. We did this in the past with gas tariffs. We took a good number of years to sort out what tariffs should be in place so we will take the same approach with water. We will carry out a lot of analysis and find out what the impact on these consumers would be. To the extent that there are a large number of charging arrangements for combined domestic and commercial use, we will take a similarly slow and cautious approach to find out the impact of any changes in tariffs.
The final question concerned smart meters. We look after smart meters for gas and electricity. We are evaluating whether or not to rule them out and the numbers are stacking up. A number of years ago, we looked at whether water could be included in that process. We found out at that time that technology was not there to allow that to happen so we are keeping that constantly under review. As the Senator says, it would be very useful and efficient if at some point in the future, we could combine these programmes. We will keep our eye on that and see what happens.

Deputy Michael McCarthy resumed the Chair.

Before I call on Senator Landy, can I ask the speakers from Uisce Éireann to clarify the at-risk element of the bonus? The question was asked by Deputy Humphreys. I was not entirely sure what the position on the at-risk element was.