Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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328. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will publish water poverty analysis undertaken by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39165/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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In January 2013, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) was commissioned by my Department to undertake a study into water affordability and the provision of water services in Ireland. Subsequently, a n Inter-Departmental Working Group was established in October 2013 to advise the Government on the appropriate method for addressing affordability issues which might arise with the introduction of domestic water charges. The Group considered the ESRI study as part of their examination of the issues. T he report of the Inter-Departmental Working Group, which includes the study carried out by the ESRI, has been published on my Departments’ website and is available at the following link; .

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Independent)
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329. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the database upon which Irish Water is basing its assessed charge for households where there are several adults resident; and the database or other sources of information upon which Irish Water may verify the number of adults present is equal to the number declared on the application form. [39167/14]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Independent)
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330. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the way it is proposed to charge for water where persons are charged on an assessed basis but where household composition changes during the assessed charge period. [39168/14]

Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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344. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his views on a matter (details supplied) regarding water charges; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39234/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 329, 330 and 344 together.

With effect from 1 January 2014, Irish Water is responsible for public water services. The Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013 provides that Irish Water shall collect charges from its customers in receipt of water services provided by it. The Act defines a customer a s the occupier of the premises in receipt of water services. The Act also provides that responsibility for the independent economic regulation of the water sector is assigned to the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) and the CER has been given statutory responsibility for protecting the interests of customers.

The approach to charging was outlined by Irish Water in a water charges plan which it submitted to the CER in line with the provisions of the Act. The CER has now issued a determination on the water charges plan. Full details and associated documentation are available on the CER website at.

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In making its determination on the water charges plan, the CER had to take account of the decisions made by the Government on the funding model for Irish Water and a direction made under Section 42 of the Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013 in July 2014. This policy direction addressed a number of matters relating to domestic water charges including the billing of properties not connected to a meter on the basis of a scheme of assessed charges based on occupancy. The policy direction also requires the CER to review assessed charges in the light of emerging data on metered consumption to ensure that the assessed charges remain as close a proxy for actual usage as possible.

With charges effective from 1 October 2014 Irish Water is in the process of compiling the relevant data to ensure that customers can be billed accurately based on the tariff structure approved by the CER.  Throughout the last number of weeks, Irish Water has been sending application packs to approximately 2 million households, which refer to the effective charging date and the fact that billing for domestic customers in receipt of public water services will start in January 2015.  The application process will enable customers to confirm their details for billing and, by providing the relevant PPS numbers, claim the allowances that they are eligible for.  This process involves customers informing Irish Water of the number of people living in a property, which is made on the basis of self-declaration.

The 2013 Act defines the customer as the occupier of the premises in respect of which the water services are provided. It also provides, unless the contrary is proved, that the owner of a premises is also the occupier of the premises. The application process gives tenants the opportunity to apply and avail of their relevant allowances and t his will continue until the deadline date for applications of 31 October 2014. After this date Irish Water has advised my Department that it intends to initiate a further campaign to allow landlords provide proof that their property is occupied by a tenant and that they are not the occupant. This will remove liability from the landlord in compliance with Section 21(5) of the Act. Irish Water has an ongoing engagement with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner and will ensure compliance with data protection legislation.

As outlined in the water charges plan, customers may request Irish Water to change their occupancy status at any time. Irish Water will facilitate that request subject to the change in occupancy being for a period greater than 90 days.

In its determination on the water charges plan, the CER has decided that all customers will have their total water charges capped at the unmetered “assessed charge” for 9 months. The cap will apply from the start date of the next billing period after installation of the meter or 1 October 2014, whichever is the later.

Up to 300,000 households may not be metered in the initial domestic water metering programme due to either the high cost or the technical difficulty of doing so. Irish Water has 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. On the basis of this report, it has been agreed to incorporate 48,000 apartments, identified by the report as being easily metered, into the current metering programme. The advancement of any further phase of metering will be a matter for consideration by the C ER based on proposals from Irish Water. The same regime of assessed charges, based on occupancy, will apply to apartmentswhich are not metered, as other unmetered dwellings.

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