Since then I have been monitoring my water usage. Under the original plans from Irish Water a household with one occupier was allowed 82 litres per day free of charge and there would be no standing charge.
I have been using less than 82 litres per day so I would have avoided a charge.
That's now all changed and flat rates are being introduced. Any plans or ideas to conserve water have been flushed down the toilet.
I have also filled out all the required forms, giving Irish Water my PPS number.
What can be said about the people who managed this disaster? How much money has been wasted on printing and postage alone?
Another example of the incompetence of the 'managerial classes'. A near universal reality. It's the importance that they give themselves that is so infuriating.
Below is a column that appeared on this blog and in INM regional newspapers in September.
Irish Water wastes 2.4 million A4 sheets of paper
The column below appears in this week's INM Irish regional newspapers.
Michael Commane
Irish Water is in the process of mailing 1.2 million households in the State. The package includes an ‘application form’ and a guide or information booklet.
It makes sense that we pay for the water we use. We have wasted far too much of it. Last week my Irish Water package arrived and my first impressions of this company scared the living daylights out of me.
The form that we are asked to complete is made up of two A4 pages. Everyone is sent the form in Irish and English. And the guide book is in both languages.
I have no problem at all with forms being in the two languages but it seems to me a waste of money that every household in the State is receiving the forms in both languages. Could Irish Water not have included a question asking people if they wanted the form in Irish? And the same with the booklet, instead of printing it half in English and half in Irish, could they not have asked people if they would prefer to receive the Irish copy?
We are living in difficult economic times. Everyone has been asked to sacrifice and for many that sacrifice is causing much pain. And in the middle of all the hardship Irish water is printing approximately 2.4 million forms of which a minimum of 50 per cent will be thrown in the bin.
That means 2.4 million A4 pages are being wasted. Add to that, the ink and printing costs. I find that a shocking waste of our resources. The 44 page booklet has 22 pages in Irish and 22 pages in English. More waste. Indeed, 26.4 million sheets of wasted paper. Then again, it might be a way for someone to improve their Irish or English. I could think of a cheaper method.
Some months ago Irish Water posted a pack to households about the installation of meters and other relevant information. Could they not have included the current application forms in that postal drop?
It’s no major issue but the postal address on the form I received did not comply with the regulations as per the rules and standards set out by An Post for Dublin postal districts. My address did not include a Dublin postal number. It also included information that is not required.
From October 1 Irish Water will bill householders for water usage. But by this stage all meters will not be fitted, so those who do not have meters will be charged on an estimated basis. The first bills will begin to arrive in early January.
That surely is shoddy practice. Imagine calling into a petrol station to buy petrol and being told the oil company will estimate how much you have purchased and will charge you accordingly. Would you think of migrating to a phone company that estimates your usage for the first few months before they begin to charge you per call?
Our electricity and gas usage is on occasion estimated but the meters are I place and are read on a number of occasions during the course of a year.
Absurd, laughable but that is exactly what Irish Water will be doing for the first few months with a number of ‘customers’.
And all this before we even begin to talk about the charge for water and how it will all pan out. I have been told by an expert that the automatic reading of meters is not as simple as it seems.
PR gurus have decided that we are now all customers. A shocking philosophy.
And why do they want our PPS numbers?
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