There’s always a catch with Irish Water, isn’t there.
The latest is that the company’s ‘first fix free’ will only apply if the pipes are bleeding out 53,000 litres or more a year, which equates to about six months of ‘average’ consumption, according to Irish Water standards.
In other words, the vast majority of leaks will need to be fixed by the customer themselves
In essence, if the piping around your house loses less than six litres per hour, the household may have to fork out €160 extra a year for water that gets wasted through leakage.
To make things even better, Irish Water has stated that it will not accept liability for the costs of repairing expensive paving which may become damaged during repair works. According to the terms and conditions sent to the regulator, the household will also be responsible for paying for this. The company will only reinstate ‘standard’ paving.
As per usual, the devil is in the detail, and in the end, the customer will have to pay for pretty much everything.