Water charges vary greatly in Ireland. This is down to the cost of treatment. If we are consuming and wasting a lot of water, then local authorities have to treat and supply extra water to keep up with demand. Water treatment is expensive, but if we all had to pay for the water we used we would learn to conserve more of our most important resource.

Sorry for taking so long to respond to your comment. I am concerned that some of the training courses for water meter installation that have recently been advertised may not be sufficiently comprehensive to be of any material value for water metering projects. For example, I understand that some courses do not even cover external meter installation in boundary boxes; yet this is where most meters will be installed. I have spoken with well respected training providers about this issue. I would like to see FETAC approve a course so that people who take the training would have a recognised qualification and could use it in Ireland and abroad.

Kevin

The one area i did find interesting was that each customer should apply for a licence for his or her supply and made responsible for it. This was always the case in old by laws but may have been done away with and definitly needs updating.
There are also a lot of unscrupulous individuals out there and some form of protection should be made for both customer and the unemployed. Who are handing out big money for courses with the promise of work when metering begins.
I again look forward to hearing from you to share ideas.

At the moment the local authorities are entitled to charge the non-domestic sector (including schools, hospitals and farms) for water, but they are not entilted to charge any more than to cover their costs.
However, the costs of water production and supply can vary depending on the condition of the raw water, the level of treatment provided and the extent of pumping required. Therefore, you can begin to see how the costs can vary between local authorities. A Water Regulator might wish to interrogate the cost base of the water authorities more rigorously.
Water charges in some parts of Europe are higher than Ireland and that is where they seek to achieve full cost recovery. At the moment the price paid by the non-domestic sector is partly subsidised by government, in that full cost recovery is not attained.

Finally, the UN has said that access to clean water (at a reasonable price) is a human right. There is not a right to free water. Where there has been debate about free amounts of water it has been less than 20 litres per head per day; and has been in the context of the developing world. I think it is slightly obscene of people in Ireland (when we have so much) to be expecting a right to free water.
Furthermore, it will make it impossible for the water authority to collect water charges if there is no right to disconnect for non payment; and it is too easy for those that won’t pay to make a statement at the expense of those who accept that it is fair to pay for water.
You must also think about those that do not have access to a public water supply today. If they have a private well and they fail to pay their electricity bill then they will be disconnected from water when their electricity is disconnected.
Saying all of that, for those that can’t afford to pay for water in Ireland, the social welfare system is the proper way to help them to pay for water and ensure that they are not disconnected from the supply.

Regards

Kevin

I agree with your view on the introduction of the non domestic metering approach for domestic customers. It is the only fairest way. What will be interesting is the formula that they use.

Without stating the obvious it does make sense to have a fee for the metering service. Now what is entailed in the metering service is a topic which I’d love to hear your thoughts on and is probably a blog all on its own.

In a previous job I have made quiet a few presentations on rain water harvesting to both private companies and local authorities. The one thing that I could never understand or get my head around was the fact that there is no uniform set fee for non domestic water rates. i.e. Tralee 1.05 cent and Nass was 2.85 cent per cubic meter. If domestic charges are to be implemented then I feel it should be a set fee across the country. (Again after speaking to my brother in France he tells me that there are different rates across the regions of France and his friend in Germany was paying €9 per cu.m. YES €9 euro.

I have a question for you that I was thinking about today. Are we not ENTITLED to water? Surely it is a RIGHT and not a privilege? What I’m trying to say is If my neighbour cant afford to pay for his water bill surely he wont be cut off?

Goodman

Tim

Thank you for commenting on my Blog. I agree that it will be very difficult (and costly) to give a free allocation of water as part of a metered water billing system.

In the past I have looked at the domestic allowance that is already made available to non-domestic customers that have a domestic component (e.g. an apartment above a shop on a common water supply, or a farmhouse on a working farm). The typical domestic allowance is 225m3/annum/property, which assumes a 5-person occupancy. That is far too large when you consider that almost 50% of Irish properties have two or less occupants. However authorities have found it difficult to apply any other system so have erred on the side of generosity. When I looked at this I found that the only fair way to apply an allowance was on the basis of occupancy, not the number of bedrooms. However, that needs very good (and intrusive) data and a high level of auditing; all of which is costly and open to abuse.

So, I think that the best way to apply charges in Ireland will be similar to the way non-domestic customers are charged, i.e. a standing charge and a metered volumetric charge. The standing charge across the 34 local authorities varies from €100 to €200 at the moment (from memory) and the average volumetric charge is €2.30 (for water and wastewater). I think the standing charge has to be kept as low as possible to encourage consumers to use less water. If the standing charge is too high then there is less incentive to save water. If the standing charge is too low it will not cover the costs of the metering service (which is independent of the volume of water used).

Kevin

In general I too agree that we need water meters and I also thoroughly agree that an independent Water Regulator needs to be appointed, if for no other reason than transparency. For years I have been harping onto my friends than water is liquid gold and it was only during and after the last cold spell have my friends started to agree with my views on water conservation.

You have raised some valid points and I’d like to put a question of two to you as I see you have blogged quiet a bit on water charges and implementation of water meters. Perhaps you can shed some light on a query I have.

The question that keeps arising is what charge will the home-owner incur due to water rates.

When water rates are introduced will there be a:-

a) Fee incurred for every drop that enters the house
b) Set allocation (cu.m) per house and everything over that amount will incur a fee.
c) Standing charge and if so what will the standing charge be.

If the answer for (a) is Yes then fair enough. Everyone is on a level playing field. Consumption = Cost.

But if (b) is the chosen option then I personally can’t wait to see how they implement this. Let me expand and look at your analogy above with the 2 neighbours.

My neighbour has a 3 double bed house and I have built an extension a few years ago during the Celtic tiger because as we all knew the Celtic tiger would never end!

For the next part I am going to put my SiteAssessor hat on and refer to calculations we use when sizing percolation areas and wastewater units. The EPA Code of Practice allocates each person in a house 150L daily usage. The total consumption in a house is based on the number of double and single rooms.

So the consumption of my neighbour’s house is now 900L per day and my house has a daily output of 1200L.

If the regulator/gov allows an allocation/allowance of water per house how will they regulate this? Surely they will have to consider the number of bedrooms? They already consider this when calculating wastewater plants and percolation areas so SURELY this will also have to play a major role in their allowance calculations.

For the sake of argument let’s choose an allocation of 30% based on the no. of rooms. My neighbour then will have 270L “free water” per day before the rates kick in and I will have 360L “free water” before the rate kicks in.

Here is where I see the problem. My neighbour who has a smaller house is being penalised again. The reason I say penalised is based on the average family size of *2.7. (CSO 2007).

If my neighbour has a family of 2.7 persons then this equates to 405L. per day and his “free allowance” is 270L so every day he will have to pay rates on 135L.

As for my house I will only have to pay for 45L per day i.e. (405-360).

I for one can’t wait to see how they approach the water metering calculations.

Out of curiosity I rang my brother who lives in France and pays for water and I asked him how they tackle the water metering and he said it is very simple. €3 a cu.m (1000L) and an annual standing charge of

Personally I think perhaps the fairest way to approach it is something along the lines of:

Charge 0.75cent per cu.m. Have an annual standing charge of €200. This fee is made up of a non refundable €50 fee (meter rental!) and the remaining €150 will be credited or debited against any costs incurred through annual water usage. In this scenario the National Pension Reserve Fund get their payback and we the end-user can cut over showers in the evening from 6min to 1 min!!

* http://www.cso.ie/newsevents/pr_census2006vol3.htm

I am sorry that my views caused you distress. That is not my intention.

While the proposals that I have made are a general solution, I acknowledge that I did not address those who could not afford to upgrade their septic tanks. There would certainly have to be some form of grant support for those who are unable to pay for these upgrades. Indeed, I think that this demonstrates just how unfair it is that those who are served by a public sewer do not pay any charges for getting their wastewater treated; while those rural dwellers who rely on septic tanks have to pay for their own costs.

I am not a member of any political party. My views are totally independent of all politics. However, I think it only fair that the Green Party should not be blamed for bringing in the licensing of septic tanks. This is something that is coming from the European Court of Justice which is threatening fines if Ireland does not deal with this matter.

Sincerely

Kevin Murray

Thank you for your comments. I have been on holidays and am only now getting to look at comments on my blog.

I had heard of your company and I will give you a call in the next few weeks.

You suggested that meters be installed with AMR built in. This is feasible but it may lock in to a reading technology too early. We are moving into the era of smart metering across all utilities; led by electricity and gas. Water needs to be able to utilise the same smart reading grid that will possibly be developed through the Commission for Energy Regulation.

Kevin Murray