Irish Water claims 55% of households have paid after second bill cycle
Irish Water says 55% of households have made a payment after the second cycle of bills.
The utility says there was a 24% increase in revenue between the two billing periods.
In total, 830,000 households have paid part or all of their bills.
Head of Communications with Irish Water Elizabeth Arnett says they have started to send out the third bills, and extra charges will apply for those who have not paid after the fourth bill.
Ms Arnett said: "When we get to beyond the fourth bill, additional charges apply. We don’t want people to be paying additional charges.
"If you are on the standard charges, €60 will apply, if you are on the single adult household it is €30.
"Nobody wants anybody to be paying those, it is in the peoples' interests to pay the bills as they arrive in so that they don't build up and there isn't an accumulated debt."
Paul Murphy of the Anti-Austerity Alliance has disputed the figures however, saying that they "do not add up".
He said: "Once again, Irish Water has been revealed to be engaged in spin to inflate the number of people who pay. Unfortunately, some journalists have bought it hook line and sinker and regurgitated their spin.
For the second time in less than a month, for example, Irish Times journalist Stephen Collins has reported inaccurately on Irish Water payment levels, writing in this morning’s paper 'some 55% of households have now paid their water charges'.
"This comes after a front page article on 28 September, which wrongly claimed that 'information released by Irish Water earlier this month … [gave] a compliance rate of exactly 51%."
Mr Murphy appeared on Morning Ireland this morning and questioned this figure.
He continued: "Now, the RTE website reports that 'Irish Water has said 90% of customers who paid a bill during the first billing cycle have already paid their second bill. It said 150,000 additional households began paying for the first time during the second billing cycle'.
"Anybody capable of doing the maths will be able to see that this does not add up to 55% payment.
"675,000 were reported as having paid the first bill in July, 43% of the total, which indicates a total targeted payment of 1,570,000 people. If 10% of those who paid the first bill have not paid the second bill, you have to deduct 67,500. Then adding the 150,000 claimed as new payers gives a total figure for payment of the second bill of 757,500.
"That is a payment rate, not of 55%, but of 48%. The significance is that a majority, 52%, of people are still refusing to pay the water charges."
