What I will pay for Water

Aeneas

Now that meters are installed in some homes and details of charges and allowances have been published by the Regulator it is possible to estimate how much our water bills will amount to. Over the period of a week I used an average of 380 litres a day (two-adult house with some garden water use of about 100 litres in total). The daily free allowance is about 80 litres so I would be paying for approx 300. On a yearly basis this would produce an annual payment of about €540.

rugbyman

Aeneas

I just came on here to ask a question, having spent a quick few minutes reading the blurb about the system.
I am in favour of water charges and more in favour of saving/not wasting water.
Your comments bring two more questions to mind.
A. Ithink you/we will be charged double your water inwards figure(which will be metered) as you/we have to pay for the same water going into sewers

Am i right or wrong?
B if I am right you will be paying again for the water you put on your grass but Irish Water thinks will have gone down the sewer. However this is a very small amount of money.

My question is , is it possible for a single person or couple to wholeheartedly embrace water saving prudence and pay no charges, i.e. stay below 30,000 litres usage ( whether that means 15,000 in and 15000 out or 30,000 in and 30,000 out)

Regards

Victor

Aeneas wrote: »

Now that meters are installed in some homes and details of charges and allowances have been published by the Regulator it is possible to estimate how much our water bills will amount to. Over the period of a week I used an average of 380 litres a day (two-adult house with some garden water use of about 100 litres in total). The daily free allowance is about 80 litres so I would be paying for approx 300. On a yearly basis this would produce an annual payment of about €540.

This is capped at about €278 per year until 2016.

Your consumption seems quite high and you should review your usage and the possibility of leaks.

podgeandrodge

Am I right in saying that a one adult household gets 30,000 litres free and a 2 adult household has the same allowance - so only 15,000 litres each? Seems unfair?

And 21,000 for every child - so each child gets a bigger allowance than most adults?

Paulw

podgeandrodge wrote: »

Am I right in saying that a one adult household gets 30,000 litres free and a 2 adult household has the same allowance - so only 15,000 litres each? Seems unfair?

And 21,000 for every child - so each child gets a bigger allowance than most adults?

And if there are 4 over 17 in the house, then there is the one 30,000 allowance for all 4. I know, I know. One 30,000 allowance per property.

Yep, the child gets a larger allowance than an adult.

Aeneas

Re Rugbyman's question.
1. The 30,000 litre free allowance is just over 80 litres a day. Personally I think it would be very difficult for one person to manage on that if they were dependent on the public system alone (but it might be possible with very stringent water management and the use of rainwater harvesting). It would in my view be almost impossible for a couple.
2. On the question of water in/water out. Only the water in is metered. For those with both services - water and sanitation - the charge is €4.88 per cubic metre. For those with water only (eg people with septic tanks) the charge is halved to €2.44 per cubic metre. I think some countries are going down the route of charging separately for water and sanitation but IW have clearly decided that a single system is best.
Re Victor's points.
1. I though the fixed charge applied only to June of next year (2015). A two person house would pay at the €278 rate until then. But from I July those of us with meters will pay according to the metered amount. What is capped until 2016 is the cubic metre rate. But perhaps I have got it wrong.
2. I don't think I have a leak since the meter does not register anything until there is water usage in the house (I've checked this a few times).
3. I too thought 380 litres a day was high, even allowing for the small amount used in gardening. But it was the result of what I feel is fairly normal use - four showers a day (no more than 3-4 mins), personal hygiene, toilet flushing, tea and coffee making, food preparation and cooking (three meals a day), house cleaning, a washing machine run every two days, a dishwasher run every day. I did make some fruit preserves which involved washing jars etc but there were no water intensive activities like car-washing, power-hoseing, painting etc. We live in the house 24/24 so that may make a difference compared with people who work outside the home. And perhaps we all use more than we think. Some friends of mine (3 adults, plus regular family visitors) have registered 150,000 litres since their meter was installed at the beginning of the year! And I've heard similar stories elsewhere. I intend to monitor mine for a while without changing my usage pattern to try to establish a base line, and perhaps see where we can cut back, before full metered charging begins next July.

Victor

Aeneas wrote: »

four showers a day (no more than 3-4 mins)

That won't help.

You might be surprised how much the gardening uses.

Fit dual flush toilets.

The_Conductor

Victor wrote: »

Fit dual flush toilets.

If this isn't an option- a brick or two in the cistern is also a good way to cut down toilet water use......

Aeneas

Victor wrote: »

That won't help.

You might be surprised how much the gardening uses.

Fit dual flush toilets.

You are right about showers. A 4 minute normal (not power) shower uses about 30 litres of water so four of those (2x2) a day will consume 120 litres.

I agree a gardening hose can use a surprisingly large amount of water in very little time. I don't ever water grass. For pots, flower beds, vegetables and fruit I use rainwater collected from the gutter system. I store about 1000 litres. My chief use of mains water in the garden is for my polytunnel which takes 80 litres to water in high summer when it is in full production. Less in spring and autumn. Twice a week. That amounts to about 75 litres per week over the year.

Ogham

Victor wrote: »

This is capped at about €278 per year until 2016.

Your consumption seems quite high and you should review your usage and the possibility of leaks.

The cap applies for 9 months after meter installation - so for those with meters already their bills will not go over th cap until the July 2015 bill.~

Someonenot getting a meter until May 2016 will have their metered bills capped for 9 months after that.