Most homes won’t have meters when water charges start
ONLY a quarter of homes in Ireland, or 400,000 out of 1.5million, liable for water charges, will have meters installed by the time water fees are introduced in September 2014.
The owners of the 1,100,000 remaining properties will be hit with assessed charges from that date until all the meters are i nstalled at different times over the next number of years.
Irish Water plans to have just over one million meters installed by the end of 2016, as part of phase one of the installation programme. Details of the second phase will be unveiled later this year.
Yesterday the company announced that the first installation phase will employ 1,600 people directly, with CEO John Tierney promising that a quarter of these temporary jobs will be set aside for the unemployed, school leavers, graduates and small businesses.
No precise details of the new annual charges – estimated to range from €100 to €570 – were available at yesterday’s launch.
That decision will be made by the Commission for Energy Regulation and then announced this autumn.
Mr Tierney said he understands householders may not be happy about the water charges when they come into force next year, but he warned there would be no escape from paying their bills.
‘We want to work with people to help them to pay this and we will be looking at every level possible in this regard,’ he said.
‘But the actual mechanism if somebody simply refuses to engage with us will be contained in the legislation which we will have before the end of the year, and there may well be measures in there that will assist us in that regard. We expect that there will be.’
He said that he expects compliance rates to be high, but also indicated that non-compliance will be dealt with severely.
‘I’m not saying they are happy to have to pay charges but what that majority hate to see is other people who can pay freeloading on the system,’ he said.
It is understood homeowners will be notified 14 days before installation, and then again two days before. But they will not have to be at home when the meter is installed.
Phase one of the installation programme will see almost 1,000 meters installed a week to hit the targets of 27,000 a day to achieve the one million target set for the end of 2016.
Contracts were signed with three large regional contractors yesterday morning.
GMC/Sierra Ltd, a new company led by established industry experts Gerard McCloskey and Patrick Joseph Cowley, UKbased J Murphy & Sons Ltd and the Irish/UK partnership of water and wastewater experts, Coffey Northumbrian Ltd, were awarded the huge infrastructure contracts.
Work will be divided up into bundles of 5,000 and this work may be sub-contracted to smaller companies drawn from another list of approved service providers.
Quarter of jobs for Irish residents
The total cost of the installing meters at one million homes in phase one is €539million, or roughly €500 per meter. The Government has repeatedly reassured the Irish public that this will not be charged as an upfront fee or charged through initial bills.
Mr Tierney reiterated this yesterday saying funding from the National Pension Reserve Fund, and spreading the cost by up to 20 years, will help Installation: A water meter reduce the impact on bills.
Fianna Fáil’s environment spokesman, Barry Cowen, is concerned that the 4,400 jobs in the water sector across the country’s local authorities could be in jeopardy. He is also seeking assurances that small local contractors will be used to install water meters in each community across the country.
‘Irish Water has said the water metering programme will create 1,600 jobs,’ he said.
‘It is crucial that each local community benefit from this job creation. I am also appealing once again for clarity on the future of 4,200 existing water services jobs in local authorities across the country. I have questioned Minister Hogan about this on several occasions and he has repeatedly failed to provide any assurances to those workers who fear for their jobs as a result of the water reform plans.’
But Mr Tierney said there would be no compulsory redundancies, while 12-year service agreements are also in place with water service sections in local authorities. Mr Tierney promised yesterday that the quarter of the installation jobs reserved for the unemployed and others would be for ‘ people resident in Ireland’. An Irish Water spokesman said: ‘Irish Water is satisfied that the provision contained in the regional works contracts does not contravene European labour laws.’
ferghal.blaney@dailymail.ie