Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 81 and 91 together.

The programme for Government and the memorandum of understanding with the European Union, the IMF and the European Central Bank provide for the introduction of domestic water charges. The Government considers that charging based on usage is the fairest way to charge for water and has decided that water meters should be installed in households connected to public water supplies. It has also decided that Irish Water, a new State-owned water company to be established as an independent subsidiary within the Bord Gáis Energy group, will be responsible for the metering programme.

There are, as reported in census 2011, approximately 1.35 million domestic properties connected to public water supplies in Ireland and the objective is to install meters in the maximum number of these properties. I have previously indicated that a proportion of these properties may not be metered in the initial metering programme owing to either the high cost or the technical difficulty of doing so. However, I expect that a large number of them will be metered in the longer term as shared service connections are replaced and further options relating to metering apartment blocks are evaluated.

The procurement processes for the metering programme are under way and it is expected that the installation of meter boxes and domestic water meters will begin in the middle of this year and will be rolled out as quickly as possible thereafter. The Water Services Bill 2013 , which completed its passage through the Dáil last week, will assign the necessary powers to allow Irish Water to undertake the metering programme.

The Government has also decided to assign responsibility for the economic regulation of the water sector, including the setting of charges, to the Commission for Energy Regulation. The primary role of the regulator will be to protect the interests of customers and ensure a consistent and appropriate level of service is provided for them. As the metering programme will still be under way in 2014, an appropriate approach to charging customers who are not metered at that stage will be put in place. This will be structured in such a way as to ensure that it will represent a reasonable proxy for usage and be fair. The approach to charges for both metered and unmetered properties will be included in a public consultation process taking place this year as part of the regulatory process.

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