Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The main aspects of the Irish Water funding model are set out in a detailed fact sheet published on my Department’s website. In 2015 Irish Water expects billed income from domestic customers to total €271 million and that from non-domestic customers to total some €229 million, giving a total billed income from customers of €500 million. The estimated annual cost of Irish Water’s billing and customer services for domestic customers is approximately €22 million. Irish Water’s costs have been examined by the Commission for Energy Regulation, CER, and only efficiently incurred costs can be passed on to the customer.

The Government is proposing to provide for the payment of a water conservation grant of €100 per annum, which will be available to all eligible households in respect of their primary residence. The water conservation grant will commence this year and an allocation of €130 million has been provided in my Department’s estimates for 2015. The budget allocation for the water conservation grant is based on an estimate of up to 1.3 million households applying for the grant. This estimated level of demand for 2015 takes account of the number of primary residences recorded in census 2011 as well as experience with other demand-led schemes.

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