PLANS TO introduce an “assessed charge” for household water, due to delays in the installation of water meters, are to be put to the Taoiseach in the coming weeks.
The assessed charge would allow households that do not have meters to pay charges pegged to those of similar households that are metered.
Government policy had been that water charges would not be introduced until meters had been installed in all but 300,000 homes that use shared supply pipes and that will be metered at a later date.
Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan has on several occasions ruled out the introduction of a flat-rate charge for water and said the Government was committed to “universal metering”.
However, senior water industry figures last month said it was inconceivable that universal metering could be in place by 2014, the date by which the Government has committed to charging for water, and it would be 2016 at the earliest before national metering could be achieved.
Bord Gáis, which will run the new utility Irish Water, yesterday confirmed that it would be up to three years before meters were installed in all eligible homes.
An implementation strategy for Irish Water is being developed by Bord Gáis and the Department of the Environment in collaboration with other bodies, including local authorities.
The strategy is due to be finalised in the coming weeks and will be presented to the Cabinet committee on economic infrastructure, which is chaired by Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
It is understood that the strategy will recommend the introduction of an assessed charge for households that are not fitted with a meter by 2014.
Rather than having one rate for all homes, as with the household charge, those without meters would pay water rates based on what metered houses of a similar make-up were paying.
Assessed charges generally take into account factors such as the number of bedrooms in the home, the type of property and the number of people living there.
While the introduction of assessed charges might get around the Government’s commitment not to introduce a “flat charge”, they do not fit with the principal of water conservation, which the Government said was one of the main reasons for introducing meters.
When it was announced last April that Bord Gáis was to run the utility, the Government stated that metering was the fairest way of charging households for water and that it would provide an incentive to reduce usage.
“An important element in the introduction of water charges is to encourage reduced consumption, and flat charges do nothing to encourage households to use less water,” it said.
The metering programme was due to begin by the end of this year.
However, Bord Gáis has yet to seek tenders for the provision of meters, or for their installation.
Speaking on RTÉ radio yesterday, John Mullins, chief executive of Bord Gáis Group, said the procurement notice for the water meters would go out to European tender next month, but the installation programme would take up to three years.
“It looks as if it’s going to take the best part of 2½ to three years to fully install meters,” he said.
A pilot survey to establish the number and location of stopcocks in three local authority areas ahead of the installation of household water meters is set to begin next month.
Fingal, Kerry and Wexford will be the first counties to be surveyed in an attempt to establish how many stopcocks – which are located underground, generally just outside property boundaries – are serving homes across the State.
“It is not just about physically putting in the meters – we have to commission, we have to test, we have to integrate that with a billing system. It’s not as simple as just about putting in the physical meter,” Mr Mullins said.
The Government is committed under the EU-IMF rescue plan to start charging households for water in 2014. However, it is under no obligation to use meters to determine the charges.
