Irish Water postpones commercial charges due to ‘optics’

IRISH Water was concerned about the “optics” of being seen to introduce new water charges for businesses during the Covid-19 crisis.

A new charging system for business customers had been due to be introduced on May 1, but has been delayed indefinitely by the water utility.

Internal records obtained under FOI show how Irish Water was worried about “overall public perception” of a State body not supporting the business community.

A memo described how the project – which would have involved new tariffs for more than 180,000 non-domestic customers – was “on track” to start billing from May 1.

However, the utility said the impact of the message Irish Water would be sending out needed to be given consideration.

It highlighted the fact many of the companies they would be contacting, including restaurants, hotels, and small to mediumsized businesses, had been hit particularly hard during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Upsurge

Irish Water was also worried about the availability of staff within the company and its third-party call centre’s capacity to deal with an upsurge in “call volumes” about charging, work which was deemed “non-critical”.

The memo added: “Finally, in light of the Taoiseach’s recent announcement, we would have concerns about overall public perception of a ‘government body’ not supporting the business community, and contradicting other government departments’ advice.”

In one email, a senior manager wrote: “Although disappointing from a project perspective, I feel that given the current climate it was exactly the right decision.”

Minutes of a meeting from March 9 on deferral of the charges describe how plans for the new tariffs needed to be “parked” pending further discussion.

An official raised the “major concern... as to whether or not it was prudent to be issuing letters to businesses on potential tariff increases when many are being hugely impacted by the current virus outbreak”.