Irish Water has reiterated that 55 per cent of its customers have now paid water charges by the end of the second bill cycle.

In a statement the company said this compared to a payment rate of 44 per cent at the end of the first cycle.

Irish Water said there had been an increase of 24 per cent in revenue between the two billing periods.

The company said that in total 830,000 households had paid part or all of their bills. 745,000 households paid during the second billing cycle, compared to 675,000 in the first.

“We expect this number to grow as we go through future billing cycles,” the company said in a statement.

Elizabeth Arnett, head of communications and corporate affairs with Irish Water, said almost 90 per cent of those who paid the first bill also paid their second.

Miss paying

“With all utilities, a proportion of customers miss paying a bill, so the propensity of those who have paid to continue paying seems very strong. More than 150,000 additional households who had not made any payment during the first billing cycle began to pay water charges during the second billing cycle with many paying both bills together,” she said.

Ms Arnett added that total payments received during the second billing cycle were 24 per cent higher than during the first billing cycle. €30 million was paid in cycle one and €38.4 million in cycle two, giving a total of €68.4 million to date.

“Over 230,000 customers have signed up to online account management and this is increasing all the time,” she continued. “We’ll be launching a new online tool in the coming weeks that allows metered customers to see their usage over time on a graph. More than 40 per cent of these customers are already paying less than the capped amount.”

Significant impact

Socialist Party TD Paul Murphy claimed that the figures released by Irish Water represented “a masterclass in spin and misdirection”. He said the figures showed that 745,000 households paid during the second billing cycle not 830,000.

“Irish Water should not be able to paint this as 830,000 people or 55 per cent having paid. That figure ignores all of those who paid the first bill but haven’t paid the second bill.

“The question of the total customer base of Irish Water, which has a significant impact on the percentages, also needs to be investigated. We need to hear from Irish Water how many bills they sent out for the second billing period,” he said.

The deadline for the €100 water conservation grant expired at midnight last night. It had been extended by two weeks on October 8th, after high volumes of calls and issues around the postal delays arose on the day.

Almost 54,000 people made applications that day and 41,947 applications have been submitted since.

The latest figures show about 66 per cent of the 1.3 million households that received letters from the Department of Social Protection in June have applied for the grant.

The department said it has already paid the grant to 810,000 households.

To apply for the grant, people who are customers of Irish Water do not need to have paid their water charges bill.