Irish Water confirms 64% of customers paid water charges in first year of billing

975,000 customers paid domestic water charges for services delivered in 2015
Domestic revenue was €144.2m or 53% of income due from charges for 2015
Customer revenue reduced from €42.3 to €33.4m from Bill Cycle 3 to Bill Cycle 4
19th May 2016 - Irish Water has today confirmed that 64% of customers had paid water charges at the end of its 4th billing cycle compared to 61% at the end of the 3rd billing cycle, 55% at the end of the 2nd cycle and 44% at the end of the 1st billing cycle. The 4th cycle of bills was sent to customers in January and February 2016, and covered services provided in the last three months of 2015. At the end of March, 975,000 customers had paid all or part of their bills. While some customers began paying for the first time during bill cycle 4, others did not pay, meaning overall revenue reduced during the 4th billing cycle.

Total revenue from charges paid to date by domestic customers in the first full year of billing is €144.2m or 53% of total revenue due from domestic charges for a full year. Revenue received during the 4th billing cycle was €33.4m compared to €42.3m in Bill Cycle 3, €38m in Bill Cycle 2 and €30.5m in the 1st billing cycle. Overall payments received in the first three months of 2016 therefore showed total revenue in bill cycle 4 was lower than bill cycle 3.
Payments received through all payment channels reduced during the month of March. 1 in 5 paying customers paid by direct debit. 8,000 customers (4% of all customers paying by direct debit), cancelled their mandate during bill cycle 4.

In the same period 5,850 customers, (3% of all customers paying by direct debit) signed up to pay in this way. This trend resulted in an overall reduction of 2,000 or 1% in the number of customers opting to pay by direct debit with 188,000 customers paying by direct debit at the end of March.

Following the recent government announcement of a suspension of domestic water charges with effect from the end of March 2016, charges for services provided apply up to that time and Irish Water is currently issuing bills to customers for services provided in January, February and March of this year.

Irish Water customers remain liable for balances due on any bills issued and Irish Water continues to accept payment and to deal with any billing queries in relation to outstanding balances. Legislation suspending water charges is due before the Dáil in June. Once this legislation is passed, we will update our customers.