This article is from page 3 of the 2012-01-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
CLARE County Council is owed more than € 10 million in unpaid water charges with schools and State agencies understood to be among the groups who owe money to the local authority.
According to the latest available figures received by The Clare People , just over € 9.8 million was owed to the local authority from its customers across the county. While updated figures for the end of 2011 will not be available until March or April of this year, it is understood that the amount owed to Clare County Council now exceeds € 10 million.
These figures mean that Clare is owed more in water charges than any other county council in the country, with only Dublin and Cork city councils – who are each owed more than € 15 million – owed more.
Both Wexford and Donegal county councils are understood to be owed an amount similar to Clare County Council.
A spokesperson from Clare County Council said that the level of arrears was mainly due to “the transition in billing arrangements on the non-domestic metering project”.
“This was where fixed bills to customers were replaced by the billing of metered usage,” he said.
“We are actively pursuing debtors to agree payment plans to discharge the arrears. Failure to reach agreement on payment will result in legal proceedings or disconnection of service to these customers.”
According to the local authority, a relatively small number of customers, around 10 per cent of the total number of customers, were currently “in difficulty” with their repayments. This represents the majority of the money owed to Clare County Council with the remainder being made off arrears.
Meanwhile, more than 50 jobs are expected to be created locally with the roll-out of domestic water metering in Clare later this year. The Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan (FG), confirmed yesterday that the roll-out of domestic water metering will begin in Clare this year.
It is estimated that it will take three years for water meters to be fitted in all homes in the county. While exact details have yet to be announced, it is understood that each household will be given an annual allocation of “free” water and will only pay if they use more than this allocation.