James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

371. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the average annual domestic water charge amount per house; the number of households in total which paid their water charges; the number in total which claimed the €100 water conservation grant; the number which paid their water charges but did not claim the €100 water conservation grant; the number of households which did not pay their water charges but did claim the €100 water conservation grant; and the cost of administering the water conservation grant and collecting the charges for each of the years 2015 and 2016 to date, in tabular form. [12795/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Since 1 January 2014, Irish Water has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local levels. Irish Water customer billing and collection levels are a matter for the utility and one in which I have no function.

Irish Water has published information on bill payment levels to the end of its fourth billing cycle on its website at.

The fourth cycle of bills issued to customers in January and February 2016 and covered services provided in the last three months of 2015. The information published shows that at the end of March 2016, 975,000 customers, or 64% of Irish Water’s anticipated customer base, had paid all or part of their bills for services delivered in 2015. This compares to some 928,000 or 61% of the customer base at the end of the third billing cycle. Irish Water began issuing bills to their domestic customers in April 2015. Domestic revenue was €144.2m or 53% of income due from charges in 2015.

Irish Water has established a dedicated team to deal with representations and queries from public representatives. The team can be contacted via email to oireachtasmembers@water.ieor by telephone on a dedicated number, 1890 578 578.

To date, the Department of Social Protection, which administers the Water Conservation Grant on behalf of my Department, has made grant payments totalling €88,991,800 in respect of the 2015 Water Conservation Grant. A small number of residual payments continue to be made to householders who have an entitlement to the 2015 Water Conservation Grant. The total administration costs for the 2015 scheme, which includes once-off system development costs, are some €5.9m.

The information requested in relation to a detailed breakdown between grants paid to Irish Water and non-Irish Water customers is not available. The 2015 grant was a universal payment to support water conservation in the home and was available to all householders in respect of their principal private residence who had registered details of their water services with Irish Water before 30 June 2015.