No date for meter installation in region

Seamus Enright

Homeowners in the Cavan-Monaghan region will be billed for water from January 2015, even though the meters have yet to be installed and no indication has been given as to how long the charges will remain, Irish Water have confirmed.
Until such time as the meters are in place, the bill for the average household (two adults and two children) will be set at €278.
Last week the Commission for Energy Regulation gave consumers their first look at what the cost of water from January will be when it published a draft price plan.

Under the CER’s draft plan, due to be approved next month, water will cost €176 for a household with one adult and €102 extra for each additional adult.
The average annual household bill for water rates will be €278 per annum - the average for a household with two adults and two children using 140,000 litres a year - 30,000 litres of which will be free; while people with water meters installed will be charged €4.88 for every 1,000 litres used, with bills capped for the first six months while householders become accustomed to the new regime.
The cost represents Irish families paying at least 20% more than the Government claimed less than three months ago.
CER is expected to make a final decision on the level of domestic water charges in September 2014, following the public consultation.
Irish Water meanwhile plan to offer a range of payment methods, including an easy payment option for regular payments of €10 or more.
The Irish Water spokesperson outlined to The Anglo-Celt that the initial billing cost is arrived at “following data analysis carried out by IW of consumption in similar households that are fitted with meters, therefore it is based on the closest comparison available”.
That figure though has since been criticised and questioned in some quarters, not least by the ESRI, who were quoted in reports at the weekend that calculations for free water for children may be “incorrect”.
The St Vincent de Paul have expressed concern at the high charge per unit, warning it could establish a culture of “high charging” with serious implications after 2016 for lower income families.
Fianna Fáil Councillor, Niamh Smyth slammed both the government and the CER over the manner in which the public have been “kept in the dark” on water charges, saying it has served only to deepen public cynicism over IW.
“There has also been an alarming lack of scrutiny of the package of charges from the very start. The CER has a poor track record in representing the best interests of the people. These proposed charges have been subject to no scrutiny; there is no detail on the calculation of allowances and the CER twice failed to produce these details before the Oireachtas despite promising to do so. Taxpayers’ money is being pumped into Irish Water and we have no idea how it is being used,” she said.
“It is time for the Government to be up front and let people know just how much they will be expected to pay once the full charges are introduced. The half-measures announced today only add to the deep public suspicion of the CER and the super-quango that is Irish Water.”