Written answers

Tuesday, 24 June 2014

Department of Environment, Community and Local Government

Water Meters Installation

Photo of Finian McGrathFinian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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381. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will consider the submission by a local residents association regarding water charges (details supplied) in Dublin 3; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26822/14]

Photo of Phil HoganPhil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I intend to use my powers under the Water Services (No.2) Act 2013 to issue a Water Charges Policy Direction to the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) in relation to a number of matters relating to domestic water charges, including any conditions attached to the Government funding to be provided to Irish Water. As required by the Act, a draft of the policy direction issued to the CER and the Joint Oireachtas Committee for the Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht, and was published in Iris Oifigiúil. The draft direction was also published on my Department's website for public consultation. The closing date for receipt of submissions on the draft direction was 16 June 2014.

I can confirm that a submission was received from the Marino Residents Association before the closing date. All submissions received are currently being reviewed in my Department and I intend to issue the policy direction to the CER after the completion of this review. The approach to charging will be outlined by Irish Water in a water charges plan to be submitted by it to the CER in line with the provisions of the Act. The CER will be responsible for approving the water charges plan, following public consultation, which will set the approaches to charging domestic and non-domestic customers. In making its decision on the approval or otherwise of the first water charges plan, the CER will take into account the policy direction issued by me.

The Water Services Act 2013 provided for the establishment of Irish Water and assigned the company the necessary powers to allow it to undertake the water metering programme.  Of the estimated 1.35m 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.  Irish Water has confirmed to my Department that the current phase of the metering programme in the Marino area was substantially completed in December 2013 and January 2014. Significant proportions of the dwellings were found to be shared services and were not metered under this phase of the programme. While Irish Water cannot confirm an exact percentage, the report from the metering contractors is that the incidence of shared service connections in the Marino area was about 4 in 5 households.

Irish Water commissioned a study on possible approaches to metering properties that are not part of the current metering programme, including apartments and properties with shared service connections. This report was recently submitted to my Department and the recommendations of the report are being considered.

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