Ulster Unionists question SF minister John O'Dowd over water charges comments

How much people in Northern Ireland should pay for their water – and how – has been hotly contested for years. On Monday a UUP proposal to make NI Water a mutual was debated at Stormont. The department of infrastructure is currently the sole shareholder and water is funded via household rates.

The UUP plan would see separate bills with householders having an effective stake in the company. However, John O’Dowd rejected the proposal, saying mutualisation “leads directly to domestic water charges”. He said the proposal would “end up charging hard-pressed workers and families directly for water."

However, the UUP infrastructure spokesman John Stewart said the comments “were confusing to say the least”.

The East Antrim MLA said: “Surely the Minister must have been briefed by departmental officials that residents already pay water charges within their rates bill? Simply segregating that charge would create the ability for a mutualised NI water to exist, with no additional costs to rate payers.

“Our question is was the Minister badly informed, unclear of how current water charges are collected or purposely choose to make this comment to stop discussion on a solution he does not support?

“Ulster Unionists recognise that a major water infrastructure investment programme is needed and propose ‘mutualisation’ as a solution to increasing funding for NIW without placing an unfair burden on consumers or diverting government funding from other worthwhile projects.

“Mutualisation does not mean ‘water charges’ or any greater burden on consumers. Rather it provides for Northern Ireland Water to address the urgent demand to greatly increase investment in Northern Ireland’s water and waste infrastructure without diverting funds from other much needed public expenditure or undue extra burdens on ratepayers”.

Minister for Infrastructure John O’Dowd said: “Currently the subsidy in lieu of domestic water charges is paid through the public expenditure system. A mutual company requires a guaranteed and predictable funding stream that is not subject to direct political control or competing public-sector priorities.

“Achieving mutualisation would therefore lead to charges being paid by domestic water customers. “Additionally, it would require a high degree of external market borrowing. NI Water has already borrowed in excess of £1·8 billion from the Government, and, as costs rise in future, further borrowing will be needed, introducing the risk that we will be setting the organisation on a trajectory whereby the largest portion of its income stream is serviced by debt.

“Mutualisation is not the solution that many think that it is.”