Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

We still need to flesh out what will be the free allowance and the price. Some people's consumption could be so small that metering in order to reduce consumption would yield no return on the meter. Unless we know what economists call price elasticity, demand is impossible to calculate.

The Minister of State referred to area meters, meaning we could locate leaks to a certain part of a townland, for example. It seems plausible that we could install many meters at a significant expense but not collect anything, depending on what is the free allowance. What will be the cost of the meter and what will be the free allowance? If a little old lady is living on her own, it may be pointless to go through the exercise of installing a meter as it will not make any difference to the national consumption and we would not get back the cost of the meter. If we did the job in stages, we would know through area meters if the rate of lost water reduced substantially, and there would be no need to go after single elderly people living on their own for no great benefit.

We need to fill in some of the blanks, including how much is the free allowance. I have heard that described as generous but I do not know if we yet have a quantification of "generous". What will be the cost per unit of consumption?