The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has expressed its anger at the water billing system for non-domestic water use in Ireland. This comes as a number of farmers have reported paying multiple water tariff charges. The system, which was developed by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU), has led to the IFA seeking a ‘charge per customer’ approach to be implemented which would remove the multiple charges some farmers with divided land are facing.
But Irish Water says that the current approach that charges per meter is fairer than the previous one. The concern regarding multiple tariffs charged came about as farmers had their holdings fragmented for water billing. Irish Water says that the CRU made a decision to implement a ‘per connection’ approach back in July 2019, to replace more than 500 different tariff levels, categories and methodologies across the country. There are now just six different systems.
According to the Irish Farmers Association these multiple charges mean having a water connection on each land section is uneconomical. This approach was considered by the commission before the final decision was made according to Irish Water.
“The regulator sought input from a wide range of stakeholders including business and farming representative groups on all elements of the new framework,” Irish Water stated.
Irish Water has estimated that as a result of the implementation of this approach, 83% of customer connections will see their annual bill either decrease or stay the same.