Cost of water leaked pending repair ?

AnnaStezia

Suppose that you have a leak that falls within the scope of the first fix scheme.

Is the customer liable for the costs of the water leaked - and billed - pending completion of repairs under the frst fix scheme ?

Irish Water: Mairead

Hi AnnaStezia,

Thanks for your query.

If you have a leak which qualifies under the First Fix scheme and your water usage exceeds average usage, you will be billed at the capped charge. Any household that uses the public mains and/or sewer is determined as being a customer of Irish Water and is paying for services rendered during the past billing quarter.

If you use more than the average use, due to a leak that qualifies under the First Fix scheme, you will be charged at the capped rate, as determined by the pricing plan set out by the CER.

This is capped at €260 for a two or more adult household per year, or €160 for a one person household.

As part of the First Fix Free Scheme repair, we will excavate the area between the meter box and your property, and depending on exact location of the leak and condition of your supply pipe we may need to carry out works on your property. This will be discussed during the repair. The leak repair offer details the terms and conditions should we be required to carry out works on your property.

You can find more information on the First Fix Free scheme here.

Kind regards,
Mairead

joeysoap

My first 4 invoices were all in the range of 19- 24 , last one was 48. Double previous ones.  There is no reason for this sudden increase, in fact it should have been lower if anything. I had a look at the meter  and there was splashes of water all over the box its housed in and water in the bottom of the box. Checked both my neighbours and they were bone dry. So I am assuming the meter is at fault, is there an easy way to check this? 

Irish Water: Mairead

Hi joeysoap,

Thanks for getting in touch.

joeysoap wrote: »

My first 4 invoices were all in the range of 19- 24 , last one was 48. Double previous ones. There is no reason for this sudden increase, in fact it should have been lower if anything. I had a look at the meter and there was splashes of water all over the box its housed in and water in the bottom of the box. Checked both my neighbours and they were bone dry. So I am assuming the meter is at fault, is there an easy way to check this?

We'll look into this straight away for you, if you could provide the following details by PM:

- Name;
- Address;
- Contact number; and
- Confirm if you are the account holder.

Thanks,
Mairead

joeysoap

Thank you, Mairead

I will have another look at it soon and see what the reading is and if it's still showing signs of 'splashing' around the inside of the casing. certainly I did not use double and looking at the invoices again the one for 24 units is probably the first one out of sync as we were on holidays for a few weeks in October and it shouldn't have been more than the previous 3.

I will come back to you when I have checked it out

Thanks again

J

Irish Water: Mairead

Hi joeysoap,

joeysoap wrote: »

Thank you, Mairead

I will have another look at it soon and see what the reading is and if it's still showing signs of 'splashing' around the inside of the casing. certainly I did not use double and looking at the invoices again the one for 24 units is probably the first one out of sync as we were on holidays for a few weeks in October and it shouldn't have been more than the previous 3.

I will come back to you when I have checked it out

Thanks again

J

You're welcome and if you do decide you would like us to investigate this, we will be more than happy to look into this for you.

Thanks,
Mairead

AnnaStezia

Irish Water: Mairead wrote: »

Hi AnnaStezia,

Thanks for your query.

If you have a leak which qualifies under the First Fix scheme and your water usage exceeds average usage, you will be billed at the capped charge. Any household that uses the public mains and/or sewer is determined as being a customer of Irish Water and is paying for services rendered during the past billing quarter.

If you use more than the average use, due to a leak that qualifies under the First Fix scheme, you will be charged at the capped rate, as determined by the pricing plan set out by the CER.

This is capped at €260 for a two or more adult household per year, or €160 for a one person household.

As part of the First Fix Free Scheme repair, we will excavate the area between the meter box and your property, and depending on exact location of the leak and condition of your supply pipe we may need to carry out works on your property. This will be discussed during the repair. The leak repair offer details the terms and conditions should we be required to carry out works on your property.

You can find more information on the First Fix Free scheme here.

Kind regards,
Mairead

Thanks for that.

I appreciate the point about capping of bills. Even so, it seems that the customer does pay for the water leaked before repairs are effected.

Irish Water: Mairead

Hi AnnaStezia,

AnnaStezia wrote: »

Thanks for that.

I appreciate the point about capping of bills. Even so, it seems that the customer does pay for the water leaked before repairs are effected.

The capping of charges, as determined in the pricing plan set out by the CER, was introduced to include these instances. The capped charge ensures that customers are only paying the set rate and not for the water lost during the leak.

The First Fix Free scheme is focused on repairing these leaks and ensuring that our natural resources are not lost. The scheme tries to promote conservation and will aim to repair the leak as soon as possible once it is determined to be on the external pipe between your outside stop valve and point of entry to the house.

We hope this helps.

Thanks,
Mairead