Irish Water has confirmed that 61% of customers are now paying water charges 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.
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,” a spokesman said.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.