Up in arms over the cheapest water charges in Europe
How do our new water charges compare with the rest of the world? We’re now the cheapest country in Europe and, globally, lower than most, a new report shows.
‘The idea of a water tariff is pretty global,’ said a spokesman for UK-based Global Water Intelligence, which compiled the data. ‘The only countries we’re aware of yet to pay water charges are Ireland, Turkmenistan and North Korea. Even Cuba charges a very small amount.’
Denmark has the highest European tariff at €6.33 per cubic litre.
Here, vans get set ablaze, estates barricaded and tens of thousands take to the streets over an 0.89c charge.
What must the descendants of the Vikings have done over having to fork out seven times more than that? Burn and pillage Government buildings and drag off the surviving staff as slaves?
Nope. They went out to buy some water conservation devices. Sweyn Forkbeard must be turning in his grave.
As result, the Danes managed to cut their water consumption by 20%. They also score highly on water quality and lose just 7% of the precious liquid through leaky pipes, compared to over 40% here.
Unlike us, they don’t only get upset about having to pay for stuff: it’s high-minded issues that get their goat. The only report of a recent Danish demonstration I could find was by music lovers over the abolition of the Danish Radio Chamber Orchestra.
‘The Danes protest about a lot of things but it’s rarely about what hits their pockets,’ said Ben Hamilton, managing director of the English-language Copenhagen Post.
‘The attitude in Denmark is quite socialist. They don’t mind paying high taxes, have a good welfare state and feel like the vulnerable are looked after.’
Funny how socialism is defined. In Ireland, the hard- left ‘socialists’ leading the anti-water campaign want to wreck a public utility, not pay through the nose for it, as Danish ‘socialists’ happily do.
In general, the highest charges are in the northern countries with the most developed welfare states.
Germany, Holland, Norway, the UK, Finland, France, Switzerland and Sweden complete the top half of the table.
Bulgaria is the only country that comes close to us in terms of cheap water. A cubic litre there costs 90c.
But the average wage in Bulgaria is €333 a month – less than half of the dole in Ireland.
Here, workers earn nearly 10 times that, more than the French, Dutch, Germans and British.
We pocket slightly less than the Scandinavians but nowhere near enough to account for the difference in charges.
According to the GWI study, the charge per cubic metre will account for just 0.005% of the average income here. That’s about half what they pay in Switzerland and Italy and a quarter of the UK levy.
But will people even pay that? In their rush to appease protesters, Irish Water has thrown all its guns overboard. Without court action or reducing supply, how will it get its irate customers to pay up?
A late payment fee of €30 is applied only after 15 months and there is a vague threat to attach a bill to your property. (This means it would recoup the money if and when it is sold).
But that’s hardly draconian. And what happens if you don’t own a property?
Irish Water boss John Tierney is being naïve if he thinks the latest concessions will have people queuing up to pay their bills. Where does he think he is – Denmark?