THE QUESTION OF whether Irish Water will hand homeowners a €100 standing charge has seen conflicting answers today.

While one newspaper claims that households will be charged €100 “before you even turn on the tap”, one Minister rubbished claims of a ‘standing charge’.

Yes

Today, the Irish Independent said that Irish Water wants to apply a standing charge of one-third of the expected average €300 water bill “just for having the supply come into your home”.

It said this proposal is contained in Irish Water’s submission to the Commission for Energy Regulation.

No

However, the suggestion was rubbished by Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte, who told Morning Ireland that this was “the first I’ve heard about a standing charge”.

He said that the legislation is very clear in terms of the fixing of the initial charge from Irish Water, and that there will be a “charge per house”.

Rabbitte said that the issue is with what the inital charge will be. However, he said that though government hasn’t finalised this charge, this shouldn’t be confused with a ‘standing charge’.

“I did not concede there will be any standing charge,” said Rabbitte. “The household charge per annum, that is not fixed yet. There will not be a standing charge.”

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