The water charges that were agreed by the CER in October were all revised by the Government on Nov 19th.
Bowing to public pressure they made several changes – the main one being that there are now just two levels of “assessed charges” – €160 for single adults and €260 for multiple adults. Also – all metered bills will be capped at these levels until 2019. (Capped means will not exceed.)
See a summary of the Revised Water Charges Here
What happens if you don’t regster with Irish Water ?
Noon responding households will be charged a flat rate of €260 a year. (Previously it was going to be €424) . This is the case for both metered and non metered homes.
Irish Water and the CER have agreed that anyone who registers before the end of 2015 will have their bills for the entire year adjusted to reflect their details. If there has been any overpayment – thie account will be credited with that anount.
That means those who register up until the end of 2015 will have all their bills to date adjusted to take into account any children’s’ allowances and the number of occupants, as well as their metered rate – and can avoid paying the maximum capped charge.
Those who wait until 2016 to register, however, will only have their bills adjusted for the billing period in which they register.
People who don’t respond will not have an Irish Water account or reference number and therefore , we are told , will not be eligible for the new “Water Conservation Grant” of €100 . More about the Grant here .
I been trying to register for several months now. It seems to be a very disorganised outfit indeed.
For anyone like myself who emigrated to pay for their house, sending a registration pack to an empty dwelling was a fantastic idea to get the process started. No provisions were made for Irish abroad who were willing to oblige.
I sent the local council several emails, requesting guidance and had not even a courtesy email to acknowledge.
After eventually receiving the registration pack and completing the online process in December 2014, I waited until June 2015 and had not received account details or a bill to the empty house (I had it checked).
I rang Irish Water and the girl honestly was really nice and friendly, however, she showed very little knowledge of the process.
So I requested my bills to be sent to my email address rather than the house. A week on…. not even a registration acknowledgement. So I still have no account or registration number, which you need to pay your bill on the phone.
I refuse to ring them again and waste my time regurgitating the events of the past year. If they want payment, they will have to make the process more efficient.