Children allowed one free flush and a shower
The opposition has accused the Government of providing misleading figures before the May elections when the Taoiseach told the Dáil that children would go free and the average charge would be €240 per household.
The energy regulator admitted yesterday that this average includes holiday homes without occupants and the cost for a family of two adults and two children will be at least €279.
The regulator’s plan which is now open to public consultation, states that:
-There will be an “assessed” charge in place until at least six months after meters are installed fixed at €176 for the first adult, and €102 for each adult after that;
-This will change to consumption based charges of €4.88 per 1,000 litres;
-Households with water that is not safe for human consumption will pay 50% of their water bills and nothing at all if it’s not fixed after three months;
-If there are leaks in a household after Irish Water has installed a meter, the charge will be capped at the assessment charge until the leak is fixed;
-Customers with certain medical conditions that require water consumption will have their bills capped at €176;
-A minimum charge will apply to holiday or second homes which has not yet been decided.
Under the regulator’s plan — which are now open to public consultation — the free allowance for under 18s will be 21,000 litres a year instead of the 38,000 litres that had been promised by Government.
“We see now this is not true. It exposes the deeply cynical approach,” said Fianna Fáil’s environment spokesman Barry Cowen.
Sinn Féin’s Brian Stanley, said the public had been mislead: “The Taoiseach said it would be around €240 per annum. It now transpires that the average will be €279. Even that conceals the fact that many will pay vastly more than that after 2016.”
He predicts the eventual charge will run to €594 which, the regulator said is the cost when free allowances — paid by the Government — are taken out.
Independent TD, Catherine Murphy, said the sums announced yesterday are fixed for three years but it’s “guaranteed” that the prices will soar after that because “the intention is that there will be full cost recovery”.
The Government has promised a €100 annual allowance to people already in receipt of the household benefit package which helps with other bills.
But the Society of the St Vincent de Paul said assistance should be based on those in receipt of the fuel allowance so that it would reach older people, unemployed, one parent families and people on disability allowance.
Following the publication of the report, Mr Cowen launched a stinging attack on the regulator, which he said had a “poor track record in representing the best interests of the people”.
“These proposed charges have been subject to no scrutiny; there is no detail on the calculation of allowances.”
Mr Cowen said the regulator had also failed twice to produce details before the Oireachtas despite promising to do so.
Spending on consultants, contractors and legal advice by Irish Water has risen to 65m it has emerged, after the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) criticised the amount it is spending on start-up costs.
The company has spent 15m on consultants so far this year — on top of the 50m last year which sparked outrage among households worried about forthcoming water bills.
The figure was provided in response to a parliamentary question earlier this month by the former Environment Minister, Phil Hogan, who refused to give details of how the money was spent — saying: “I have no role in that regard.”
In a written response to Fianna Fáil’s Barry Cowen, he said: “I understand from Irish Water that some 64.6m has been expended on external service providers in relation to the establishment of the company.”
Irish Water told the Oireachtas Environment Committee last January that it is planning to spend 86m on consultant costs as part of its 180m to establish itself.
It disclosed that the computer giant, IBM will receive 44.8m; Accenture will receive 17.2m; Ernst & Young will receive 4.6m and KPMG 2.2m.
Another 13.3m is going to 18 other contractors who were procured “to support the work” of the major providers.
Irish Water plans to pay nearly 4m on legal services with 970,000 paid to McCann Fitzgerald and 2.9m to A&L Goodbody.
The Commission for Energy Regulation said yesterday that Irish Water should cut its establishment costs by 13m.
It said while the majority of its costs are “allowed as efficient expenditure” it considers that Irish Water “has not justified the totality of the costs submitted as being of an efficient level”.
It proposes an 8m
reduction in its project management costs which “were high relative to the benchmarks considered”; and
a cut of 5m in internal labour costs.
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