Irish Water has today confirmed that 39 per cent of customers are not paying water charges.
The company said 61 per cent did pay at the end of the third billing cycle compared to 55% at the end of the second cycle and 44% at the end of the first billing cycle.
The company said 928,000 customers have now paid part or all of their bills, an increase of 98,000 customers who began paying charges for the first time in the past three months.
Total revenue from charges paid to date by domestic customers is €110.8m. Revenue received during the third billing cycle was €42.3m, an increase from €38m in the second billing cycle and €30.5m in the first billing cycle. Overall payment levels from bill cycle three therefore show both an increasing number of customers now paying water charges, and increased revenue received to help fund the repair and improvement of water services in Ireland.
Irish Water plans to spend €522m in starting to address the major deficits in Ireland’s drinking water and wastewater quality and capacity and repairing the most critical infrastructure in need of urgent investment in 2016. This is in addition to the First Fix Scheme. Irish Water made significant progress in 2015 and this important work needs to continue. Customer charges are a vital part of our funding model to deliver this work.
In 2014 and 2015 Irish Water has delivered the following:
• 100 treatment plants upgraded or under construction last year
• 319 contracts signed for new projects to improve water supply and wastewater treatment around the country
• 500km of water pipes replaced – enough to go from Cork to Dublin and back
• 2,200 customer leaks repaired under the First Fix Scheme saving 26 million litres of water every day – enough to supply the town of Mullingar
• 20,000 people removed from long term boil water notices
• Removed risk of water supply contamination for another 220,000 people
• 800,000 water meters installed since the start of the metering programme with 40% of metered customers paying less than the capped charge
