*Irish Water has said it expects the regulator to take
a definite decision on the discounts that will be applied to households
on boil water notices before the end of this month.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Head of Communications at Irish
Water, Elizabeth Arnett said that according to a draft decision
published in August, a discount will be applied if drinking water is
unfit for consumption in a household which has been on a boil water
notice for longer than three months.
Ms Arnett said this would amount to 50% off the net water bill.
She said it was already decided that people will be capped at the
assessed charge or the average charge for their household and that there
would be discounts for people who have a medical illness.
She said in documentation sent out to the public, Irish Water asks that people indicate if they believe they would qualify.
"...You tick that box and we would send you out a subsequent form that you would fill in."
The Irish water spokesperson also said the company musk ask people
for their PPS numbers, in order to ensure that water allowances go to
the appropriate people.
She said people will not receive their allowances unless they provide their PPS numbers.
"It is important that we put appropriate governance around this...we
understand we're giving them to the state, an arm of the state and that
they're used appropriately" she said.
"We cannot use PPS numbers unless we have the authority to do so, we
have been given the legislative basis to do so and we cannot use them
except in the circumstances that have been designed which is to ensure
that people get the allowances they're entitled to..."
Earlier in the month the company confirmed a possible breach of data
occurred after it sent information packs with the wrong names to over 6,000 customers.
Homeowners whose houses are not tied to public sewage schemes will
face drastically reduced water charges when they are levied from next
January.
The new charges are based on drinking water in and waste water out of
households but those with private septic tank systems will not have to
pay for water removal, meaning their bills will be reduced.
Ms Arnett told RTÉ that having a septic tank means water bills will be halved.
She said the reduction applies on a 50/50 split basis.
Around 500,000 households in Ireland have their own septic tanks for dealing with waste water.
According to Irish Water they will pay half the water charge that households connected to public sewage systems will pay.
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