Water charges for excessive usage

K.Flyer wrote: »

Again this plan by I.W. is so flawed. It discriminates between people in houses and people in apartments.
If there is a meter fitted on the supply to a typical apartment block which averages high consumption due to usage or leaking taps etc, there is almost SFA they will or can do to figure out the culprit(s).
So they will move on to the houses, the low hanging easy pickings, and pursue them instead.

Irish Water are chancers and charlatans of the highest order. Another quango with outrageous salaries and severance deals.

They either meter every single property on I.W. supply or F.R.O. with their alternative hare brained ideas.

Correct and right.

Stiffed once, won’t be stiffed again

NIMAN wrote: »

Do we think that there will be any more willingness in the country to pay water charges this time round, considering how we are all so switched on to saving the planet now and its dwindling resources?

Or still no chance!

I doubt it. This whole eco stuff of late is a consequence of an economy doing well and the amplification effect of social media.

Only 7% of voters who turned out last time voted Green, but certainly every effort is being made to claim a "green wave" has swept the country.

If Brexit turns out to be a disaster for this country, or Irish Water start threatening people to register for bills again then all this environmental stuff will go quiet again.

Benedict wrote: »

You should not confuse willingness to pay for water with unwillingness to be a victim of unfairness. The plan is to use the fines collected from metered homes to subsidise wastage by apartments and houses without meters. This has nothing to do with unwillingness to pay for water, it is to do with unwillingness to accept being treated like an idiot.

It happened once before MrB, it will not happen again.

‘Meter one- meter all’

Otherwise back to the drawing board.

Water has to be paid for - but there seems to be no way out of this mess other than to pay out of central funds and those with private water sources can be given a grant.

The Irish people simply will not accept a situation where one half of customers are restricted in their usage and the other half are not.

The claim that IW will nab all the non-metered homes using too much water (and will fine them accordingly) is complete nonsense and everyone knows it. If that was the case, why would you need meters in the first place?

If any fines are imposed, they will eventually have to be refunded. It is not that long ago since IW had to return all of the money they collected - and they are still struggling to complete those refunds!

They need to be honest now and admit that the current plan is the Titanic. And we know how that ended up!

Joe Kane wrote: »

This thing will never be rolled out. IW are out of money, budget spent for this year. 100's of workers laid off by the private contractors, plug pulled on big projects. First Fix free leak scheme dead. None of that being published or said by them or the Government though. All kept hush hush.

do you have insider knowledge? any links?

Deleted User wrote: »

They should do like in the UK. Unmetered properties were given the choice of paying a flat fee or get a meter. Meters were soon installed.

I live in an apartment which was built 22 years ago and because of its age, you can't install meters.

Irish people, rightly or wrongly, will not accept water charges for at least a generation.

K.Flyer wrote: »

There are quite a number of apartments where the infrastructure makes it extremely difficult to almost impossible to fit meters. Although if the had to they would have to fit them to the mains supply just as it enters the premises, usually under the kitchen sink.
I know some apartment buildings that would require two meters because the kitchen tap water is direct from the mains, while all the rest of the water comes from a separate pressurised system via a communal storage and pumped system!

Where I live it can't be done. I asked at our annual Management AGM and I was told its impossible.

skimpydoo wrote: »

Where I live it can't be done. I asked at our annual Management AGM and I was told its impossible.

Playing Devils advocate, the owners of the building are the MC so in theory IW could just charge the blocks and leave the individual recharges to leaseholders to the MC.

Benedict wrote: »

Don't forget that it is now some time since IW decided to stop installing meters. So if you don't have a meter, you won't have a meter! There is a surge in building new homes and none of them has a meter - so very soon, the number of homes WITH a meter will be less than 50%.


The installers have packed their bags and gone home! (For good!)



When IW say "customers" who use excessive amounts will be charged, what they actually mean is "customers with meters" will be charged. They are ignoring the second bit in the hope that people won't notice.


Sorry IW! We've noticed!

Like the man said “Locked & Loaded”

Will not happen.

Benedict wrote: »

If the current plan is put into effect, metered homes may get a nasty shock about how easy it is to go over the quota. If you've got 4 in the house, you're allowed 213k litres per annum. If all four have a daily power-shower and there are 2 cars washed once a week, you've already gone into the last quarter of your allowance. And there's still a hundred and one things to do which involve water. And every litre over the quota is nearly 2 Euro fine!

In jig time, the quota will go down and the fine will go up.

Happy days!

Sitting back relaxing.......power washing the dogs...... won’t happen.

In fairness too much is being used out in the country

Deleted User wrote: »

You forgot to mention that charges will be capped.

I’m sure that in these climate change aware days that people will adapt their behaviors and conserve water.

Yes, charges will be capped at E500 per annum - at least that is the current figure. That is what "people" will be charged if they significantly breach their quota. There is no guarantee that the cap will remain at E500 or that the quota will remain as it is now.
The real issue here is that the quota will only apply to around 50% of IW users. If you have a meter, you'll have to watch your usage while the family next door without a meter can use what they like with no quota applied.
Seriously Maryanne, are you happy with that situation? Do you think it's fair?