Bin companies have been hiking prices and offering customers ‘illegal deals’
BIN companies have increased prices and are illegally offering flat-rate fees since pay-by-weight charges were introduced last year, a waste services watchdog has found.
The revelation is sure to be of huge concern to households who were told by the Government that the new charging regime could reduce their waste collection costs.
The soon-to-be-published report by the Price Monitoring Group will not name and shame the waste firms that have increased their prices, but action may be taken if charges continue to rise.
The report also found some companies have reduced their fees since they were forced to offer customers pay-by-weight rates.
Of the 120 different price options surveyed, which included service charges, lift fees and pay-by-weight rates, 20 charges had changed between November and December last year.
In eight cases prices had increased and in the other 12 the fee had been reduced.
One bin company’s service charge soared from €22.75 to €26.50, while another firm’s dropped from €17 to €12.
“While there are price fluctuations from November to December, these are relatively minor and the overall trend on recorded prices between the two months was relative price stability,” a source said.
The group, which is led by consumer expert Frank Conway, has the power to make recommendations to Environment Minister Denis Naughten, who in turn can take action against the waste firms.
Bin companies still offering flat rates have already been contacted by officials from the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment and warned they are in breach of the new laws.
The Price Monitoring Group was established after the Government introduced pay-by-weight bin charges to ensure waste companies did not hike costs. The group has been monitoring waste collection fees offered by 26 bin companies across the country for the past three months, and will this week publish data showing pricing trends in the sector.
A detailed breakdown of the various fees offered to households will be unveiled.
The information was gathered by undercover ‘mystery shoppers’, who called waste companies posing as new customers and asked for their prices. The information is compiled by the independent price monitoring company Shelf-watch. Senior Department of Environment officials and statisticians from the Central Statistic Office are also part of the waste service watchdog.