water charges in other countries

zmccomish

Are there many or indeed any European countries who charge water rates. ?

slimjimmc

AFAIK all other EU countries do and have done for many years. Ireland was unique in not having domestic public water charges for decades.

Maudi

slimjimmc wrote: »

AFAIK all other EU countries do and have done for many years. Ireland was unique in not having domestic public water charges for decades.

We pay billions..through taxation for water..

Mr. Incognito

Maudi wrote: »

We pay billions..through taxation for water..

Yes, but we all dont use it equally.....

hfallada

Every EU country pays for water, refuse ( remember that used to be "free" until a few years ago) and they also have a property tax. By charging for water, we are doing in economics what they call making a public cost( some thing we have to pay for regardless of it we use it) a private cost( something we pay ourselves through taxes or by paying it eg bin charges).

By making a water charge a private cost. You no longer are paying for other people's use, as they are paying for it themselves. I know tons of people that went from using 2 black bins a week to only one black bin every 2 weeks.

By paying for water, people should in economic theory cut their usage.

jester77

We have 2 water charges here, you pay for what you use plus you pay for treatment. It's reasonably cheap, costs about 40 a month in our house.

Del2005

Maudi wrote: »

We pay billions..through taxation for water..

We don't pay enough taxation to run the country and provide "free" water to everyone, so now we are being charged for water we use.

tim63

bet you can drink it?

Fr. Ned

hfallada wrote: »

Every EU country pays for water, refuse ( remember that used to be "free" until a few years ago) and they also have a property tax. By charging for water, we are doing in economics what they call making a public cost( some thing we have to pay for regardless of it we use it) a private cost( something we pay ourselves through taxes or by paying it eg bin charges).

By making a water charge a private cost. You no longer are paying for other people's use, as they are paying for it themselves. I know tons of people that went from using 2 black bins a week to only one black bin every 2 weeks.

By paying for water, people should in economic theory cut their usage.

However, if people do cut their usage, Irish Water have it in their remit to increase the unit cost.
This has nothing to do with conservation of water and everything to do with gouging cash from hard pressed consumers to appease our 'betters' in Brussels.

Fr. Ned

Del2005 wrote: »

We don't pay enough taxation to run the country and provide "free" water to everyone, so now we are being charged for water we use.

Nobody ever got 'free' water in this country.
It is paid for through general taxation.

dudara

Not a Consumer Issue and more importantly, I don't want rabble rousing. There are plenty other threads concerning water rates, please search for those.

dudara