Irish Water to deliver price plan to regulator today

The exact pricing structure for water charges being proposed by Irish Water will be submitted to the Commission for Energy Regulation today, but is not expected to be published until next week at the earliest.

The commission appeared before the Oireachtas environment committee yesterday, but said Irish Water’s pricing plan, including the cost per litre, had not been submitted to it in advance.

The deadline for submitting the plan is today, and an Irish Water spokeswoman confirmed it will be provided to the commission.

However, the commission confirmed to the committee that Irish Water had sought to reduce the free allocation of 38,000 litres per child, as had been originally announced by the Government.

While Irish Water said this is “unrealistic” the commission said in its presentation to the committee this will only be granted in the event of more “robust research and consumption analysis”.

Members of the environment committee were severely critical of Irish Water for not providing the submission in advance of their meeting.

Fianna Fáil's Barry Cowen, the acting chairman, said TDs and Senators "would have hoped to have been privy to it, and had hoped to ask questions on it".

“I don’t want to mince my words, we are disappointed, some are angered. We are at a loss today. This is the latest in a series of delays.”

Paul McGowan of the commission said it shared the committee’s disappointment, and it repeated the Government commitment that the average household will pay €240, although some homes will pay more and others will pay less.

Labour Party TD Kevin Humphreys said the meeting yesterday was a waste of time, and said Irish Water was “showing contempt” by failing to provide the requested information.