Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 19 December 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action

Examination of the Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly (Resumed)

12:00 pm

Mr. Garrett Blaney:

I will address the question on metering.

Water meters were based on the introduction of a charge whereas smart meters are being rolled out in a different context. All households already have electricity meters and there is a long history of charging for those commodities. In that context, I would like to separate those two.

The CRU does not have a view on the constitutional amendment per se but we do have a view on the importance of good data. Good data is absolutely key. We, for example, cannot incentivise leakage reduction unless we know the actual level of leakage. We cannot hold Irish Water to account for its ability to deliver conservation or other requirements unless we have good data. We rely on the more than 200,000 industrial and commercial meters and the more than 600,000 domestic meters currently in operation. Meters will be installed in all new houses. As well as that, Irish Water has in place an existing network of district metering in which it is investing to ensure that it is upgraded and fully functional. It is through data gleaned from this multitude of sources that we would expect to have the ability to deliver on the conservation and leakage reduction targets that are required for water. That will not be possible until we have really good data and we are not there yet. Irish Water has a long way to go in terms of delivering the level of data that we require. As I said, good data is absolutely vital if we are to successfully deliver the leakage reduction levels that are required.