WATER CHARGES MAY BE
LESS THAN € 200 YEARLY
UPDATED: Friday 24th May 2019
Planned changes by the Government to the controversal original water charge rates originally proposed by Irish Water may result in an effective yearly tariff of € 200 (or less) for most of the family units occupying households in Ireland during 2015.
The changes to Irish Waters original plans involve:
1. A simple single universal annual allowance which will
replace the previously envisaged (and complicated)
scheme proposed by Irish Water, which was based on the
number of adults
and children living in each household.
2. This annual universal allowance of € 100 (irrespective
of earnings, savings or any other income) will apply to
those households which register with Irish Water and
the Department of Social Protection. (Although details have not been released, this may help defuse the problems facing Irish Water of collecting PPS numbers.)
3. Previous ideas proposed by various Government ministers, such as tax allowances for the employed and water subsidy type arrangements for social welfare
receipients, mooted in the 2015 budget proposals, will be scrapped.
4. The introduction of a simplified 2 rate system based on a lower annual rate (around € 200) for single adult households and a higher annual rate (around € 280) for
those households containing two or more adults and 1 or more children. This proposed change may mean that households containing 5 or more adults and children will pay the
same annual water bill as households containing a family of two adults.
With the introduction of the proposed annual water allowance of € 100, this may mean that single adult households will pay less than € 100 per annum and
households with two or more adults and children will pay less than € 200 per annum.
It may be the end of November 2014 before these changes are agreed by Government and it is not yet clear how long the water allowance of € 100 will last, if it will be gradually scaled back over the coming years and for how long the € 200 and € 280 water tariffs will remain at those levels.
A major problem for the Government with this plan is that the total amount collected from Irish households must not exceed the threshold viewed, and prohibited, by the European Commission under the heading of state aid. Any state aid must be added to the balance sheet of the Irish State.
You change see how much the difference is between these revised plans and the original plans by checking the tables below.
Annual Charges Per Service (Water Supply AND Wastewater Services)
WITH Water Allowance
Originally Proposed By Irish Water August 2014
| Adults | No Children | 1 Child | 2 Children | 3 Children | 4 Children | 5 Children |
| 1 | 175.68 | 175.68 | 175.68 | 175.68 | 175.68 | 175.68 |
| 2 | 278.16 | 278.16 | 278.16 | 278.16 | 278.16 | 278.16 |
| 3 | 380.64 | 380.64 | 380.64 | 380.64 | 380.64 | 380.64 |
| 4 | 483.12 | 483.12 | 483.12 | 483.12 | 483.12 | 483.12 |
| 5 | 585.60 | 585.60 | 585.60 | 585.60 | 585.60 | 585.60 |
This summary is based on a recent article in the Irish Times newspaper.
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