Family hit with €7,000 bill for water connection

Building their dream home turned into something of a nightmare for a Galway couple when they went to connect to the public water supply.

They’ve been hit with bills totalling more than €7,000 for connecting to the water pipe running directly past the site of their new house — a distance of less than a metre.

The blame for the huge cost has been placed firmly at the door of Irish Water by Independent TD Noel Grealish.

When Willie and Alma Shaw applied to Irish Water for permission to connect their new home under construction at Curragrean, on the coast road from Galway City to Oranmore, to the public supply, they received an offer letter putting the “total connection charge” at €3,199.

But then they were shocked to be told by Galway City Council that they would have to pay various other charges and bonds that more than doubled the cost, shooting it up to €7,149.

“When I contacted the City Council at the start, I was told I would have to make the application to Irish Water and there was no mention whatsoever of any additional charges,” said Willie Shaw.

“So when I got the offer letter from Irish Water, it clearly stated that the total connection charge — and they used that term in print — was €3,199, and naturally we assumed that was all we would have to pay.

“But when we got back onto the City Council, which manages the connection on behalf of Irish Water, we were referred to a link on their web page that outlines a whole series of extra charges.

“I have to pay €250 for a road opening licence, €200 towards long term damage to the road, a €2,000 bond charge also to cover possible damage to the road that may or may not be refunded in two years’ time.

“Then I also have to hire a specialist contractor, who has to have a traffic management plan, a traffic management method statement and risk assessment, public liability insurance etc, which will cost another €1,500.

“All this just to dig a small hole at my gate to expose the water main – which is on the hard shoulder, not even on the road,” added Willie.

Mr Shaw said that after all that, it was highly likely that the road would be dug up again in the not too distant future to replace the asbestos pipe currently carrying the public supply.

And he claimed that if his house was a few hundred yards further out the road, past the city boundary, the whole connection would cost roughly €1,800 as Galway County Council operated a different set of charges.

Galway West Independent TD Noel Grealish said that the blame for the shockingly high charge laid with Irish Water. He said that prior to the establishment of Irish Water, for people building a one-off house in the city or county, the cost to connect to the water main was around €3,000, all of which went to the local authority.

“Now that charge has transferred over to Irish Water, but that means that the local authority are down more than €3,000 per house.

“So now what the local authority are doing, they are imposing charges like €400 for a person to come out and look at you while you have the hole dug, they want €250 for a road opening licence, €200 for damage to the road, then €2,000 for a restoration of the road opening which may or may not be refunded. Then you have to get an established contractor who has to dig the hole, all adding up to well over €7,000 to connect to the main.

“I said in the Dáil that Irish Water were going to get their money back some way, and I’ve been proven right,” added Deputy Grealish.

Willie and Alma Shaw and their 16-year-old daughter Nicole last year sold the home in Kilcolgan where they had lived for 15 years. They hope to move into their new home at Curragrean before Christmas.

“If I had any inkling that the water connection would cost me this much, I would have definitely sunk a well — that would have cost about €3,500, and no more water charges for life.

“It’s only too late because we are moving in before Christmas, if it wasn’t too late I would definitely go after that option because of all this nonsense,” said Mr Shaw.

“A really good comparison is the ESB, who are charging €1,800 in total, while an Internet connection from Vodafone, including a pole, is free —I just have to sign an 18-month contract at €40 a month. That’s a stark contrast,” he added.