Finally the debate on water charges is over — for now

Fresh legislation to apply changes and more will come before the Dáil by the summer, writes Juno McEnroe

Everyone now thinks the regurgitating and annoying rows over water charges are over.

They are for now — but we can expect this favourite political spat to return in the not-too-distant future.

The current water charging regime has been scrapped, officially, as of yesterday. The Dáil voted to end the current frozen system of charging, whereby homes with two or more residents paid €160 after receiving the so-called conservation grant.

A new excessive-charge system will be set up. It may see an estimated 8% of the population, who use large amounts of water, end up paying levies. New builds, refurbished homes, and apartments look set to get water meters.

The system was agreed after much squabbling at the Oireachtas water committee, whose final say was strongly influenced by legal advice on how Ireland complied with EU laws.

TDs fell into line with recommendations; a majority, as expected, voted to accept new terms. The measures were approved 96-48 in the Dáil.

A new threshold will see households that use 1.7 times the average amount receiving levies. Fine Gael claims these will be issued like other utility bills such as electricity or gas.

The exact penalty householders face for excessive use has still to be worked out.

There is already confusion over what exactly is deemed to be “excessive”.

The committee recommendations allow individuals in homes to use 133 litres per day. But the terms also say the rules will be based on the average household usage, estimated to be 590 litres a day.

Of course, the differences in charges will all depend on how many are in a home and whether that impacts on the threshold. This has still to be ironed out. The inclusion of the two proposed threshold types in the report suited the different demands of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

The energy regulator estimates there are 70,000 homes that use more than 590 litres a day, whether through leaks or willful waste. It will be left up to the regulator to put some more detail on what the threshold will be. No doubt though, this will cause more debate.

Refunds are another contentious issue for the Fine Gael-led government.

Up to €160m was paid in bills under the old regime. The water committee recommends household are treated with fairness and monies should be returned.

However, two senior ministers yesterday could not say how or when this might happen.

Both Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe and Finance Minister Michael Noonan, at separate events, were unable to answer whether next year’s budget plans would include refunds.

Certainly there are a lot of angry and surprised people out there who did pay their bills and have criticised the scrapping of the charging regime.

Inevitably, many constituents will be knocking on TDs’ doors in the coming weeks asking where their money is. It is still to be decided whether this might be given back in a lump sum or through a tax credit.

Fresh legislation to apply these changes and more will come before the Dáil by the summer. It really will then be a matter for Irish law and TDs won’t be able to muddy the waters.