The Department of the Environment is seeking local sub-contractors to work on the installation of water meters on more than one million homes in the Republic in a move that will create 1,200 jobs.

The State’s new water utility will begin charging households for water from 2014, and Bord Gáis, which has been charged with establishing the company, has begun seeking suppliers for some of the equipment needed.

The department tendered at the weekend for sub-contractors to work on installing water meters, the boundary boxes that will contain them and associated equipment.

It intends to establish panels of local sub-contractors to work on installing the equipment in each region around the country.

The work is expected to create up to 1,200 jobs between next year, when it begins, and the end of 2016, when it is scheduled to be completed.

Bord Gáis will shortly begin seeking management contractors to manage the sub-contractors and the installation work.

Short list

The department published its notice on the Government’s e-tenders website, which is used to advertise for large public contracts.

Any businesses interested have until January 4th to respond. The department is seeking expressions of interest at this stage; from there it will narrow applicants down to a pre-qualification short list. Those that make it through that process will be invited to submit tenders to be included on a panel of sub-contractors in a given area.

Water charges will be introduced in 2014. Not all households will be metered at that stage, and those that are not will be charged on an assessment of what their average use should be.

There will be free allowances for groups who are likely to face real difficulties in paying the charges and for those whose medical needs mean they have to consume large quantities of water.

The new company, unofficially dubbed Irish Water, will be a subsidiary of State-owned Bord Gáis and will remain in public ownership.