There were several reports over the past couple of weeks about the number of people who have already registered for the new Household Charge . Apparently about 45000 had already paid up or set up direct debits by Jan 19th .
But – that still leaves around 1.63 Million properties left to pay – if our estimate of the number of Properties liable for the Household Charge is correct.
As the Household Charge it is a self registration system – with no bills being issued – the collection rate will probably not be very high.
A big publicity campaign is planned for early February – when every house should be getting a leaflet telling them about the Household Charge. So the payment figures should rise fast after that – as long as their website can cope.
The leaflet delivery charges for the approximate 1.9 million properties could be in the region of €180,000 . The printing costs will probably add on something like €40,000.
People have until March 31st to pay before penalty charges kick in . Payment of four installments by Direct Debit is also available.
Registration can be done online at the HousholdCharge.ie website .
Home Owners can also print off a registration form on the householdcharge.ie website and send it by post to Household Charge, PO Box 12168, Dublin 1 where payments by cheque will also be accepted.
For those people without internet access – they should be able to collect a registration form at their local Council office and pay by cash too. Most local Council websites don’t have much information about the Household Charge yet – apart from links to the main website. Hopefully they will also be offering to post out forms to those who request them?
Payment should also be accepted at Council offices before 31st March.