Water & Wastewater Connection Charges

collybyrne

I have received an offer letter from Irish Water for water and wastewater connections to a new build in Co. Meath. I was surprised at the cost, especially the charge for a wastewater connection. I asked for a breakdown and was given a breakdown of both the "Works Fees" which is the work the council will have to carry out, and the "Infrastructure Fees" which is the levy charged by Irish Water. The works fees in my case were minimal so the vast majority of the cost was in the infrastructure fees.The Infrastructure Fees are being charged at the following rates:

€16.50 per sq/m for water
€24.37 per sq/m for wastewater

Has anyone else seen rates like these for a new connection lately? I want to challenge the cost with Irish Water but I don't want to get into an argument with them if this actually is the standard rates and everyone has been paying the same. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

FiOT

Hi there,

I'm building in Meath too and also got a land when the Irish Water bill came through the door.

Can't remember the exact figure but in or around €5500 for a 243sqm house. Think only €900 or so of that was for labour/engineer fees.

We asked for the breakdown and got a reply and then went to our Fine Gael guy in the area who in fairness did a lot of digging and letter writing for us. No joy in the end though, paid it and got the connection quite quickly afterwards.

collybyrne

Thanks for your reply. I was expecting the 5500 for the water, it's the extra 6500 for the wastewater that took us by surprise.

Jofspring

Wow that sounds like daylight robbery to be honest. I'm about to start a build in county Limerick and we have to connect up to a local water scheme. The total cost including connection is €1,000. Irish Water are robbing people.

collybyrne

Thanks for your reply. I assume when you say a local scheme you mean one implemented by the locals and not by the council?

Its an awful price in fairness not sure what our options are in terms of challenging it in anyway. We have already paid 9000 to the council and now another 12000 to Irish water seems a ridiculous amount in levies. Especially when the councils works charge for the sewerage connection was zero.

The post above made it sound like there wasn't much point in getting a Councillor involved so we're caught between a rock and a hard place.

Jofspring

Ya it's a scheme run by the locals for the last 30 years or so.

To me it sounds like it's a charge that needs to be highlighted because I'm sure a lot don't know Irish water are looking for that kind of money for connection. I can't see where they can justify the excessive charge.

The council contributions is high also and I see from another thread they are sky rocketing in a lot of counties.