675000 households are paying water charges

LESS than half of Irish households have paid their water charges.

Irish Water have this morning confirmed that 46% of payments have been received for its first billing cycle.

A total of €30.5m was received in the first billing cycle for drinking water and wastewater services provided by the public utility and 675,000 households are paying water charges.

Customer engagement levels are high, with 540,000 calls being made to the customer contact centre during the 12-week billing period.

Elizabeth Arnett, Head of Communications and Corporate Affairs with Irish Water, said: “675,000 households are now paying water charges meaning that nearly 2 million people are living in homes that pay for water services supplied by Irish Water. Payment received for the first billing cycle, at over €30.5m, is 46% of €66.8m due and payments for the first bill are still coming in.

“Typically, in well established UK water utilities, customers take an average of three months to pay a water bill. No reminders have been issued to our customers and yet we have a payment rate that is broadly in line with what would be expected for a new utility sending out a new bill for the first time. This represents a solid start for Irish Water.”

The second billing cycle for domestic drinking water and waste water services is now underway and will involve reading of 640,000 meters. Irish Water has confirmed almost 40% of metered customers will pay less than the capped charge of €65 or €40 depending on their household size.