Water company wants householders to pay fixed charge

Irish Water has sought the introduction a standing charge for households but the Government has said a decision is yet to be made on the matter.

The Department of the Environment this morning said no decisions have been made about the level of water charges, including any standing charge.

"The Commission for Energy Regulation will decide on standing charges, in line with any possible direction from Government, it will not be decided by Irish Water," a spokesman said.

The comments come as the utility company confirmed it wanted to impose a basic charge - reported to be approximately €100 annually - for delivering water to individual homes. The price would be a third of the expected €300 water bill.

A spokeswoman for Irish Water this morning said: “Irish Water have made a submission to the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) regarding the tariff structures – this submission will form part of the public consultation process which the CER will shortly engage in.”

The commission told The Irish Times it expected to publish consultation papers this week, with a final decision due in "a number of months' time". A spokesman refused to confirm the €100 figure reported this morning.

Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan said the Government can only make a subvention to the regulator, who will ultimately make the decision. "The Government has to make its mind and the Government will tell the people when they have their minds made up and when the decision's made," he told Newstalk.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan described the reports of a €100 charge as “incomplete”. Speaking in Limerick Mr Noonan said: “The Government hasn’t yet decided what level of water rate will apply so the story this morning is based on something that was said but not by Government so it’s an incomplete story, it’s not a correct story .

When asked if there will be a standing charge he replied: “All those things have to be decided. What has been done up to now is a very strong decision has been made that we can’t continue any longer pouring 40 per cent of the water that is purified into the ground and that’s a total loss to the tax payer.

“We just cannot continue to waste it and we have committed to metering every house and business in the country and to applying water charges,” he added.

“We have also said that the Government will decide the level of the charge in due course and we have also said that there will be a free allowance for all households. Beyond that we haven’t gone yet,” he said

Earlier, Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte said he was unaware of any plans to introduce standing charges.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Rabbitte said the Irish Independent story was "the first I've heard about a standing charge…I believe it's not going to turn out like that".

However, the Minister went on to say the Government was discussing a charge on water supply. “There will be a charge per house,” he said. “This is another conservation move this is another move in consonant with good environmental policy and the issue is what will be the initial charge per house.”

Asked whether he knew how much this charge this would be, he said, “I have some idea but Government hasn’t decided yet we’re still discussing the situation”. He added: “I’m talking about the water charge per household per annum, that isn’t fixed yet. There won’t be a standing charge in so far as I know.”

The Department of the Environment said in a statement: “Irish Water’s proposals are merely part of the CER’s forthcoming consultation on tariff structure, which will commence shortly.

“There will be plenty of visibility around the likely level of charges in advance of charging commencing in October.”

Fianna Fáil called for clarity on the matter and accused the Government of reigning on a commitment to offer a free water allowance.

"Far from receiving a free water allowance as promised, we are now told that Irish Water wants to force every single household to pay €100 before they even turn on their taps. They will then clock up water charges of several hundred euro on top of that," said the party's environment spokesman Barry Cowen.