No Irish Water rebate for charge defaulters

Irish Water customers who fail to pay water charges will not be entitled to receive any rebate under an additional penalty being imposed by the company.

The Irish Examiner understands the measure will form part of a range of incentives to encourage Irish Water’s 1.5m customers to pay bills on time. Irish Water has set aside €11.3m to be paid out in rebates over the next two years. The first are due to be paid in January 2016.

Customers will be entitled to a rebate if their consumption for the first year when metered is less than the capped charge.

The household will be due a once-off rebate on the difference between the capped charge they paid while unmetered and the amount they would have paid if they had been on a meter during that period.

Various penalties for non-payment have been considered by Irish Water after the Government decided to remove legislative powers which would have allowed the company to reduce supply to homes.

Now Irish Water’s main sanction is a late payment charge which will see €30 added to any annual bill which is unpaid for three months or more. Another €30 will be added each year that the bill is left unpaid.

Legislation will also allow for a statutory charge to be put on a dwelling with unpaid charges which would have to be paid before the property could be sold. Irish Water will also be entitled to seek judgments against customers through the courts for unpaid charges.

A new regime of reduced charges will see prices capped at €160 per year for a single adult household and €260 for all other households. Households which register with Irish Water will also be entitled to an annual €100 conservation grant.

Under the revised water charges plan submitted to the Commission for Energy Regulation, Irish Water has sought permission to withhold payment of the rebate due to bill defaulters.

“Domestic customers who have any charges outstanding relating to the period they were subject to unmetered charges and have been issued with a late payment charge will not qualify for a rebate,” a senior Irish Water official in correspondence with the CER said.

However, he pointed out that customers will have 12 months to pay outstanding charges from their unmetered period before they would qualify for the rebate.

The Government is concerned that any large-scale campaign for non-payment of charges could cause Irish Water to fail the EU’s market corporation test which requires income from its customers to exceed 50% of its production costs.

Under existing forecasts, the Government’s contribution to Irish Water’s revenue will reach 48.2% in 2016.

Any slippage in projected revenue from households not paying charges could see Irish Water put back on the Government balance sheet.

Asked by Socialist Party TD Ruth Coppinger about the projected level of non-payment of charges earlier this month, Alan Kelly, the environment minister, said measures he announced last November would ensure “any charges not initially paid when due, will ultimately be recovered by Irish Water together with any applicable late payment fees”.

Meanwhile, it is understood the CER is to change its name to the Commission for Regulator of Utilities to reflect additional responsibilities since taking on the role of overseeing Irish Water.

Sources said the proposed change would require legislation but costs would be “quite low”.