Fines of €500 for households wasting water

Households that waste water will be hit with fines of up to €500 after new excessive use charges were approved.

Under the scheme approved by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU), households have been allocated an allowance of 213,000 litres per year.

This is 1.7 times the average amount of water used by a household of four per year. The average person uses 133 litres per day.

Larger households will be entitled to apply for a higher allowance, and households with medical needs which require additional water use can apply for an exemption from the charges.

In the coming months, households who are exceeding the allowance of 213,000 litres per year will be contacted by Irish Water to alert them of their use.

This is designed to encourage them to take steps to reduce use or identify leaks, Irish Water said.

If excessive use continues after the issuing of this letter, customers will receive an official note of excess use. They will then only be liable for charges if they continue to exceed the threshold amount in the 12-month period after receiving this notice.

As a result, domestic customers who continue to use over their annual allowance may not be billed until the start of 2021, at the earliest.

CRU and Irish Water estimate that approximately 80,000 households in the country use more than the allowance. This accounts for 7-10% of domestic metered households and, of these, approximately 60% of these households have leaks which can be fixed.

The penalties for households who continue to exceed the allowance start at a rate of €1.85 per 1,000 litres used on top of the annual allowance and are capped at a maximum of €500 for households that have water and wastewater services, or €250 for those who have just one service.

Currently, about 55% of domestic premises are metered. For non-metered households, Irish Water will monitor water levels and leak alarms in areas. Where issues arise, investigators will be dispatched to determine which household is responsible for the excess use.

The director of water with the CRU, Laura Brien has said that the introduction of charges for excessive use of water is not a “revenue generator” for Irish Water.

“It’s about water conservation,” Ms Brien said.

“Conservation must play a significant part in addressing future resilience of the water infrastructure in Ireland.

This policy clearly sets out how customers must be treated by Irish Water if excess use is identified, and how customers will be given the opportunity to address this in terms of either fixing leaks or adjusting their consumption levels before any charges may apply.

A first fix will be free of charge for any leaks “between the gate and the front door”, but homeowners are responsible for any leaks within the house.

The majority of problems are not leaks under floors, but issues such as continuously running toilets, she said.

Yvonne Harris, head of customer operation for Irish Water, said the charges will “act as a deterrent to wastage”.

“Unnecessary wasting of water by a minority of people puts the supply of safe, treated water for everyone at risk,” she said.

The head of asset management at Irish Water has asked people to be mindful of the water that they use and to take sustainable steps to conserve water.

Seán Laffey said recent extreme weather events, including the heatwave and drought last year, showed “safe, clean, treated water is not in unlimited supply and that we all have to play a part in conserving it”.Mr Laffey conceded that leakage is a huge problem, with the national leakage rate at 43%.

Plans to charge consumers for water were scrapped in 2017 after three years of protests, debates during elections, and claims of a “failed” charging regime.

However, campaigners have warned these new waste water charges are the thin end of the wedge and will eventually see more households paying for water.