Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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459. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government in relation to the installation of water meters by Irish Water, the reason meters are not being installed inside the household as are other public utilities such as gas and electricity so as to allow the householder read their meter and thus be aware of the amount they are using; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18932/14]

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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460. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government in respect of water metering, if a public utility, or other, damages a water pipe and causes a leak, the person responsible for the payment of the loss of water and the way such a leak will be measured; if there if a system in place that will make the householder aware that water lost as a result of such leakage will be not be billed against their house; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18933/14]

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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461. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government in relation to the installation of water meters by Irish Water, the facility in place to turn on the water meter on 1 October 2014; if it will accurately read the usage for the first three months; if all meters will be set to zero on 1 October 2014 as currently the meters are running; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18934/14]

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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462. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government in respect of water metering, if a fault-leak occurs between the private house and the meter, the way the householder will be made aware of this leak if they cannot read the meter, as the meter is buried in the footpath outside the house, and in the case of an elderly person it would be impossible to read; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18935/14]

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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463. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government in respect of water metering, the precautions that have been put in place to prevent meters being tampered with or damaged by vandals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18936/14]

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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470. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if water meters have been installed by Irish Water in houses or housing estates that are unoccupied; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19099/14]

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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471. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if water meter have been installed by Irish Water in houses or housing estates in County Kildare that are unoccupied; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19100/14]

Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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512. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the number of households who will not have a water meter by the time charges are introduced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19641/14]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 459 to 463, inclusive, 470, 471 and 512 together.

The Programme for Governmentsets out a commitment to the introduction of water charges based on usage above a free allowance. The Government considers that charging based on usage is the fairest way to charge for water and it has, therefore, decided that water meters should be installed in households connected to public water supplies. The Water Services Act 2013 provided for the establishment of Irish Water as an independent subsidiary within the Bord Gáis Éireann Group and assigned the company the necessary powers to allow it to undertake the metering programme.

Most meters for public utilities are located at the point where the connection enters the household. In the case of water services, under the provisions of the Water Services Act 2007 , household pipes internal to the boundary of a property are considered the responsibility of the householder, and thus water meters are being fitted at the stopcock at the boundary of the property. As this is located on publicly accessible land, it minimises disruption during the installation programme and in terms of meter reading in due course, as access is not required to people’s homes. The meter boxes are not sealed and can be opened to allow the householder to read their meter, if necessary. Meters will be read automatically and the information will be provided directly to customers in their bills. Irish Water has confirmed to my Department that all of the water metering contracts are fully compliant with the Disability Act 2005 and that the water meters in use by Irish Water comply with the Measuring Instruments Directive. In all customer communications, Irish Water asks any householders with any disability, mobility or medical concerns to contact its call centre (1890 278 278) in advance of the meter installation so any additional support or advice can be arranged.

Irish Water will not need to reset water meters to zero for October 1st 2014. The meters used in the domestic water metering programme maintain a record of the reading at midnight on the last day of each month. This provides Irish Water with an accurate month end/month start cumulative consumption on an on-going basis. These month end records will be collected each time the meters are read. Where a leak is identified on the public water mains, the repairs are undertaken by the local authority, acting as agents for Irish Water. Where the leak is identified as being within the boundary of the property under the 2007 Water Services Act, the repair of the leak has been, and remains, the responsibility of the individual householder. To assist the homeowner in the identification of any leaks Irish Water has confirmed to my Department that water meters being installed as part of the Metering Programme have a “constant flow” alarm which alerts Irish Water who will in turn alert the affected homeowner. Householders with a meter installed will be provided with a reading of their meter as part of their bill and any unusual usage patterns can be discussed with Irish Water if the householder is concerned. As part of the metering programme, my Department, in conjunction with Irish Water, is currently working on a proposal regarding customer-side leakage.

In common with meters for other utility services, the meters will be the property of Irish Water which will also be responsible the repair and maintenance of the meter. Section 74 of the Water Services Act 2007 provides that it is an offence to damage or otherwise impair a water meter. Irish Water has indicated that it will have installed a t least 400,000 meters by the end of 2014, with 1.058 million properties to be metered by the end of 2016. Of the estimated 1.35 m domestic properties connected to public water supplies, approximately 300,000 properties will not be metered as part of the current phase, due to the cost or technical difficulty of doing so. These properties would include apartment blocks, other multi-occupancy buildings and houses with shared service connections. Local authorities are in the final stages of a pre-installation survey of households connected to such supplies. The survey is providing information to Irish Water on the properties that can be metered. The intention is that a meter will be installed in any property connected to a public water supply where it is technically feasible to do so. The matter of occupancy of the property will be addressed separately. In advance of the commencement of charges, Irish Water will be engaging with every household to verify customer details.

Irish Water has established a dedicated team to deal with representations and queries from public representatives. They may be contacted via email to oireachtasmembers@water.ieor by telephone on 1890 278 278.