Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Households now have a fresh opportunity to register with Irish Water. If a household fails to register, it will receive a default bill for €260 per annum per dwelling. In addition, such households will not be entitled to the €100 water conservation grant.

For now, there is no need for customers who have already responded to do anything. Some households may need to amend their details to take account of the fact that all children under the age of 18 will now qualify for the child allowance, rather than just those children under 18 in receipt of child benefit. In January 2015, Irish Water will give them an opportunity to amend their application, where necessary. To implement the changed charging regime and to provide those households that have yet to register with an opportunity to respond to the Irish Water customer registration campaign, so that they may avail of the new benefits and to receive accurate bills, it is important for customers to register by 2 February 2015. Households, that have not previously responded, can register with Irish Water online from today atwww.water.ie; by returning the revised application form which will be available to download from www.water.ie; or by phone from Monday, 24 November 2014.

As part of the transition phase, through funding provided by the Government, Irish Water will have a "first fix free" scheme to fix customer leaks from their front gate to as close as possible to the dwelling.

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