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WATER CHARGE PRICES will be announced in or around August according to the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER).
Commissioner at the CER Paul McGowan made the revelation this evening during a sitting of the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee at Leinster House.
The charges are set to begin in October with the first bills due in early 2015 but a pricing structure has yet to be decided.
One of the roles of the CER is in regulating price changes in other utilities such as gas and electricity.
McGowan told the committee members this evening that the CER has not yet been given this statutory regulatory power over Irish Water but assured members that “the commencement order is due within days”.
In setting the charges, McGowan said that the CER would ensure that the charges are reasonable in terms of the costs of setting up Irish Water.
He said, however, that he could not provide any details as yet as to whether these charges would be universal or whether they will be different across various local authorities.
McGowan did pledge however that the CER will publish Irish Water’s submission on its proposed charging structure along with the CER’s commentary on it.
A public consultation programme will then follow with the final decision on charges expected in late Summer.
McGowan was then questioned about whether there would be different charges for water that is used for drinking taps and that used for sewage leaving a property. He said that although no definitive decision has been taken on such matters that he would envisage that this would be the case.
He added that in some properties, those with septic tanks for example, charges would only be incurred for water used in sewerage removal.
CEO of Irish Water John Tierney reiterated that the new semi-state will not have the power to cut off customers for non-payment of charges.
Fianna Fáil TD Seán Fleming asked Tierney whether supply limiters would instead be put on properties instead, echoing a loopholes used by local authorities currently.
“If you look at the last three charges that were introduced including the property tax, 93 per cent of people pay these charges. Those people want to see that for people who don’t pay that there are penalties in place,” he responded.
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Elections coming folks. Time to break this Fine Gael stranglehold on the country.
But who will replace them! labour will be decimated, not enough people will vote Sinn Fein and a government of independents can’t run a country.
Please tell me your not considering voting for Fianna Fáil the shower of twisted gombeens, buffoons, alcoholics, graves jumpers and economic terrorists who caused this bloody mess.
Fine Gael/Labour might be bad but Fianna Fáil should be euthanised!
I think it’s got to be Sinn Fein. And then if they renege on their promises they can be promptly kicked out too. But anything, anything, some kind of change from what we’ve always had
Sinn Fein.. thats laughable
It has to be independant or the new social party.
This water scandal is a gas, gas, gas.
Now that our taxes no longer pay for anything, would the government mind lowering them?
A lot of people already pay water charges about time rest of country pay up like rest of western world. Too many red herrings, have not seen the dept of environ secretary pulled across coals yet as this is person that has power not hogan
Yeahhh, protect Hogey Bear at all costs. Sure, he is only the Minister. Yeahhh, right.
Your taxes are going on the interest on our massive debt that is going straight to the moneymen at the ECB where they can fractional reserve the ass out of it and create more debt which lets them pick up some nice juicy assets that belong to citizens at knockdown prices, charge the suckers for it and pretty much buy and control everything. End off.
Waiting till after the local elections, if they come to your door ask them do they agree with water charges if they do tell them you’ll vote for someone who will vote to scrap them
Will you people please get proactive.
The Irish are being ripped off left right and centre.
Have you any pride at all❓
The mind boggles at the amount of abuse you endure.
No wonder English rule was so successful.
You all said you wouldn’t pay the property tax. You paid it. So why would paying water rates be any different.
Country needs to grow a backbone and actually stand up.
You didn’t see the Greeks, Spanish, Italians or Portuguese lie down and take it.
But the Irish took it for Everyone
If Herod asked the Irish to tolerate and to cooperate with the killing of the first born male child in every family, it would be done without question.
We Irish are lemmings.
I see that NAMA and Liquidator of IBRC are letting big borrowers buy out big commercial loans at huge discounts.
We Irish don’t care. Spit on us and pissss in our water please.
#dublin says no.. I havent paid the bondholder tsx
You haven’t paid it yet ! So what else you going to do ?
Last night Dublin Says No put a call out for help for a family of 5 who had gone 3 days without food and werd all huddled in a room around the one working heater in the house.
This is what is going on out there and what do the Irish do. Jack $hit
Cause they have no backbone.
Luckily this family got help today from very generous people who gave a handout.
Thos shouldn’t be happening in thos country but the majority have allowed the Minority destroy thos country.
So you haven’t paid you will pay eventually
#dublin says no.. I dont have the money to pay it.. I dont get your reply either or am i missing something?
Well said dublin says no …
Amen!!!
Last time I posted a comment like that I got almost 100 red thumbs.
Every1 is great giving out…. From the comfort of their sofas. Action is needed
The situation in those countries is extremely different. Property Taxes and water charges already exist in Spain as they do in most European countries. I guess that they have been ‘taking it’ for longer than we have then.
Ogochukwu says to Dublin Says No ,Hi …Now , that is out of the way ..Revenue caused the problem with the Property Tax and to say it didn’t is codswallop ..Now, we will really see where the backbone is when it comes to the Water Charges ,you probably right ,but will there be a difference ,we’ll see ..lol
I might pay in and around…….never!
Not paying it end of!!
@ Gary
Not paying it is great , and everyone should follow suit , but the problem will be , if you allow them to fit the meter , they will be able to turn off your water from the offices of Irish water , the smart meter must be stopped from going in . A great DVD that explains the risks from these meters is called ( take back your power ) well worth a look
The meters Irish Water are putting in are not smart meters that can be remotely operated. Smart meters that can be remotely operated have a remote signal box installed onto the boundary wall which is connected to the meter and runs on electricity. This kind of meter is the one that gives of radio waves and is very controversial in the US. The only thing smart about the meters Irish Water have is that can be read by a wand when a person drives around, exactly like the new ESB meters. The meter that Irish Water is installing runs on a small battery and is about 10 years behind the technology the US are using in their
Metering program.
Everyone said that about the property tax. They all paid in the end. This time next year see will it be the same with the water charges. Or will you finally stand up and say no.
@ Keith
Thanks man ill have a look at it..
@ Marc
I wont allow them on my property..
Also, ALL Irish people need to see this!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATg1ze0ac88
Vincent Browne asks the question, “why are us, the Irish people paying billions to unsecured bondholders under threat from the ECB”, the reply he recieves is f**king sickening!!!
That’s good but usually the meters are outside the property.
350.000 people haven’t paid property tax and long may the protest
Marc, i dont care where they fit it, im not paying for it.. If they alter the pressure flow i’ll fix soon fix that! :)
We’re surely near the 60% tax rate now maybe more? I wonder what it would have to rise to before people say stop.
Only paying 60% if your a PAYE
Good times still rolling along for others
I’ll pay when the water out of my tap is drinkable, which will be never…
Just like their words, which will never be belieavible.
50mil down the drain already!! I think we have already started to pay…..
50 million spent and the best we get is “in and around”.
I get a shit load less than that but if I reported “in and around” my ass would be grass!
“In and around” FFS, give us back our 50 million!!
Wipe them out on May 22nd in the Local & European elections. Boycott pro water metering parties Fianna Gael/Labour. Vote only anti austerity candidates
And don’t do any business with bored gais
The serious charges will not be the price of the drop of water that comes through the meter.
The mega charges will be meter rental charges. That’s where the gold mine is.
You’ll still get the same shite water, a small charge will be applied and the meter fixed charges will rob you.
On top of the charges will be VAT.
Roll on local elections.
Pay and you’re just a sheep
Pay “the water rats” and you are complicit in this scam.
Wait until August, then we’ll hear about the taxes on rainwater barrels, wells, and meters to measure how much rain falls on your property. And to think the Window Tax was repealed in 1851…
The CEO Mr Tierney while in the position of City Manager had close ties with developers during the boom times, he even met a developer in private to discuss a Developement on O Connell street in a hotel in the capital city nobody else present at the meeting which was unethical and very suspicious this is well known in government circles yet he gets promoted to one of the biggest jobs in Ireland which will necessitate some structural work by builders. It STINKS TO HIGH HEAVEN.
Only if you register you pay…..
Ridiculous situation with tax in this country – illegal vrt, vat, car tax that doesn’t pay for road repairs in your own County, tolls, water charges, septic tank charges, income levy, paye, local property tax used to pay bondholders, pension levy, insurance levy on any insurance policy that you also pay vat on. I’m probably missing out on something! A complete joke.
Much of the money ends up in the hands of private companies – that’ll only increase over time (privatisation).
Rather than privatise everything we in the EU should be looking at giving Governments to nationalise certain things. Insurance for example. A very profitable industry. If every country was allowed to operate its own insurance companies, we’d go a long way to becoming profitable.
Another knife in the back of the Irish people by the “Labour” party traitors.
You missed USC..the mothetf****r of all taxes…basically a tax on people who bother getting up of their ass to do a days work. It should appear on your payslip with a little picture of a highway man mask.
Can’t believe I missed that one!
And the masked faceless invisible basturd doesn’t even give you a dodgy receipt.
these are prime traits of FG and their followers, i’ve worked with a few. They lie and illegally mess with the contract of promise, you’d really need it in writing with these nasty muppets. No.1 USC, whats the story rory??? No. 2 lol “No home should ever be taxed – Endof, No.3 Free allowance on water??? whats the story? and many more numbered points way down they have failed to deliver but made it worse for us but better for their followers and all business interests.
Gangsters. I’ll expect many people won’t be washing, massive vandalism to water meters, this time the s*** will be fired at their walls, we’ve taken enough of it.
I grew up in the countryside where many people have their own well, my parents included. The taste is so different. I feel absolutely terrible drinking water in Dublin and buy bottled water. I don’t disagree with water charges as it will make people respect the resources we are lucky enough to have. I won’t pay for bleachy fluorinated water however. Water Fluorination has been banned in other EU countries. Why not here?
Get used to it folks you are gonna pay just like the property tax , the irish are a subserviant lot always used to being ruled one way of the other !
I wonder will all those with ‘drinking’ water which would poison you have to pay?
With over 93% compliance with LPT, turns out most of the “won’t pay” merchants actually did pay. So we can expect the usual barrage of won’t pay merchants here over the next few months before they do exactly the opposite…
Sorry O’Reilly but when the government sc#m handed it to revenue you couldn’t avoid the poxy thing.
I’m sure you paid and I’m also pretty sure you’d still be licking the collective FG arse even if they had you living in an empty crisp packet on the side of the road…I know plenty like you who were far better off under FF yet will support FG no matter what…it’s this inherited hand me down “I voted FG so you will too son” pathetic allegiance that has the country f***ed and used as a cash cow by the incompetent useless feckers we unfortunately have in government.
Unfortunately the majority here shouting for Sinn Fein are not such a big portion of the electorate. Most FF/FG gombeens don’t read the journal.
Still I think it’s time to give SF a shot. What’s the alternative?
I’ve an indoor swimming pool in my house, 5 en suite toilets, 4 ‘regular’ peasant toilets like yours likely, 5 jacuzzis, 3 doggie paddling pools, 2 extensive garden ponds with fish from all round the world.
It’s going to cost me a fortune. Just as well I have it to spend I suppose.
Only 1 swimming pool Drew? I’ve heard about poor people like you but never thought I’d meet one.
Only one indoor Patrick. The other one is on the roof, so I don’t count that until I have my glass canopy built over it.
All the time while they were warming us up for water charges they said there would be a free allowance
Now they have gone quiet on that one, in august we’ll see no allowance, standing charges and paying for sewage.
My water bill each year in London is over £500.
What has London got to do with Ireland?? Its extortion simple as..
How much is your car tax in london? I don’t see the point your making?
Letting you know now much we get robbed in London. Keep your knickers on.
My car tax is £400. Congestion charge £50 a week for those that drive in the congestion zone.
Marc thats a serious amount of co2 emissions from your car if you pay 400 a year.
Why would anyone want to drive in central London, when you have one of the best transport systems in the world?
How much is the London weighting worth these days?
I don’t work in the Public sector Kerry. I don’t receive London weighting.
That’s because you are in London where your water charges are controlled by private water companies. If you were in Edinburgh where they have refused to privatise you would be paying less than half that amount and not had an increase for the last five years because the local authorities do the job they are paid to do. Every one of our government bodies are nothing more than collection agencies.
Marc…my car tax in Wigan…is £125. Fully comp…come up here to work. LOL . Must look at my utility bills to see water charges. ;)
They are planning to charge for sewage as well now? This is news to me..
There’s money in shit€!
Makes sense. Many people on the public mains have to pay for their own waste water disposal while others can avail of the public system. Would be fairer.
@ just5
You will be paying for the water coming in and the water going from your house , the price of the meter will be put on your monthly bill .
They’re gonna need to hire more consultants for pricing.
The public sector workers, screwed by Haddington Road, will signal their response to the Irish Water bonus gravy train when they vote in the local and EU Parliament elections.
” announced in or around August” they’re hoping for it to coincide with a drought.
Local elections on the way and then national elections.
Ten years ago porn cost a fortune and water was free now its the other way round.
Ill pay when they get rid of the property bond bailout tax.. Which i havent paid..
Come on lads we all need to take the pain, I’ve a bored well btw!
Sabotage.. Anything… Well over 50m spent on consultancy fees to set up a company to charge us for our water that we actually pay for through income tax already. Burn it to the ground…. All of it. I’d rather burn this whole country to the ground than have to accept the amount of sh!t that we have been subjected to over the last 5-6 years. Out with the old in with the new.
Something to look forward to, God knows we don’t get much to look forward to in this country. Granted I’d prefer to be looking forward to having a bit of money to put back into the economy, but sure, I’m sure it will come right in the end.
sure it will come good………if your on the gravy train thats getting the money from this
Sarcasm obviously lost on people
So many of these taxes are robbery but believe it or not a water tax is actually a good thing, so much water wasted in this country by householders because it’s free. Problem is it’s another tax on top of all the other ones we pay. If it’s metered and priced properly by these muppets it might get people to use water wisely. By the way I’m a plumber & will fix all them dripping taps ye have for a handy fee.
Ogochukwu will see this as the sh1t hitting the fan ,but Ogochukwu is not a fan ..Take money off you left right and centre , no stopping them now ,, pay up and get some water , don’t pay and get some water ..Have you private Well ,,well well good for you, they tried , but it’s too illegal and they could have been shot..Straw that Camels back is too apathetic ..lol
If your rent out an apartment who pays landlord or tenant ?
Landlord but then landlord sets the rent so cost is passed on
So if your not getting the full rent landlord will have to pay that like management fees what a joke so a tenant can leave a tap running all day and landlord foots the bill can’t see that happening
At least Irish Water are looking after their own. Those 300 employees will be able to pay a few years worth of water charges with their 7k bonus. Apparently it’s in line with public sector pay too. I’d like to talk to a nurse, guard or fire fighter who has received a bonus in their wages as opposed to cuts.
http://m.rte.ie/news/touch/2014/0115/497912-hogan-irish-water/
Just in case anyone missed the story.
he’s one sick puppy, disgusting.
fix the f****** leaks, ALL of them!
Yes, a.’pricing structure’ which will bear no relation to the actual cost of producing the treated eater, but rather how much can be sqeezed out of the public to repay bogus loans. There is also the job of preparing it for sale, probably at a knock down price, to whatever foreign commercial entity is the current favourite in Europe.
Howzabout a first bill per household of 85 million to cover setup charges and maybe a bit of actual usage?
the only one we can all vote is merlin and his magic wand, that might work.
Great news, I hate freeloaders
mr carlow man hogan ,you egg head, how dare you insult the hens ,as theres more brains in an egg than there is in your egg head,
I dont understand why are they try to figure out what the charges gonna be. do it like every other country in Europe. pay after what you use. easy as it sounds they dont need consultants for that!
When they find some big news story to hide it under
Our water scheme demanded 600 yoyos within 2 days or face disconnection. We had to pay it. Then they handed it over to the council who now hand it over to Irish Water, complete with new mains and ready to go and they need Gazillions to print bills.
have your say