The orginal deadline for sending back the Irish Water “application forms” was October 31st 2014. Hidden somewhere on the Irish Water website and the CER website – was the fact that there was a 60 day backdating of any allowances. That meant that any forms sent back by November 3oth would get their allowances backdated to Oct 1st (the start of charging). We had confirmation from Irish Water in writing during September that this backdating may not have been done in time for the first bill.
The CER have confirmed today (Oct 24th) that Irish Water billing will be delayed until at least Jan 26th – and that any forms or online registrations received by Irish Water by November 30th will have allowances backdated to October 1st and they will be deducted on the first bill.
So in effect this is seen as a one month extension to the deadline – but really it is just a delay to the first bills. Many of the first metered bills would probably not have gone out in early January anyway because they will depend on having meter readings from 31st December – which will probably take several weeks to do all over the country. We expect that many of the first metered water bills will not go out until February or March
Any forms sent back after Nov 30th will still get the allowances backdated 60 days from the date of registration (assuming you were in the property and liable for water charges 60 days prior to sending in the form)
The above article refers to Irish Water having to read meters all over the country in order to determine the finishing point of the first bill relating to the period from Oct.1st, 2013 to Dec. 31st, 2013. I have searched everywhere regarding this topic & there is no discussion/questioning about it anywhere (including Irish Water web site). I’m amazed & baffled. I would love an explanation. How can they calculate the bill for the period involved if they don’t know the starting point on the meter ? What was the Oct. 1st reading ?!!!!! My meter was installed many months before Oct, 2013 & has been ticking over ever since. Would I be terrible to insist that I have no intention of paying for the water I used BEFORE Oct., 1st !!????!! Beyond this there is no information about how Irish Water propose to conduct meter reading from one period to the next to insure accurate bills are sent out. In all the discussions/interviews conducted in the media to date, I’ve heard no-one discuss any of this !!!
The Water meters store teh end of month readings and they can be read by a “drive by” reader any time in the following few months. See here https://www.moneyguideireland.com/irish-water-meter-readings-how-will-it-work.html