IRISH WATER’S FIRST Fix leak repair scheme has been given the go-ahead by the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER).

The CER said in its decision document that Irish Water’s leak repair scheme is supposed to address the leakage on customer supply pipes. €51m was allocated to a First Fix Scheme by the government.

The CER said that customers who qualify under the scheme will have their first leak fixed free of charge. However, you must be registered with Irish Water to qualify.

Irish Water will have to report to the CER on a quarterly basis on how the scheme is going.

How it works

Under the scheme, Irish Water will offer a free fix where the leak is identified on “the external supply pipe between the point of entry to the house and the property boundary”.

Irish Water will use meters to pinpoint the leaks. A meter will trigger an alarm when a constant flow of six litres per hour continuously over a 48 hour period is detected.

All customers, whether they are registered or not with Irish Water, will receive a letter from Irish Water if they have a leak alarm at their property.

The CER pointed out:

When the customer contacts Irish Water to schedule a leak investigation appointment, Irish Water will ensure that the customer has registered. If they have not done so then Irish Water will register the customer prior to organising a scheduled visit to investigate the leak.

Among the key CER decisions was that the Irish Water has to ensure that new owners of homes where previous owners didn’t engage or avail of a repair are eligible.

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It also has to include customers who have not responded to leak notifications but subsequently contact Irish Water.

In addition, Irish Water has to help customers in finding their internal stop valves.

It has to confirm clearly its process for supporting customers who have a visible surface leak but fall outside the scheme for any reason.

Irish Water is to send two leak notification letters, one to the supply address and another to the correspondence address (where they differ) to ensure that both landlords and tenants are notified of a suspected leak.

The CER said it “expects Irish Water to strongly promote the scheme in order to increase customer awareness”.