OVER the last three years, water rates have been continuously increasing, claims Margaret Morrisey, local business woman.
She said that the water bills she has been paying had jumped from 135 euro per year, to 65 euro per quarter, which makes this year’s bill 260 euro. Ms Morrisey said that her usage at her business address has not varied at all over the last three years, as she only holds a toilet and water basin on the premises.
She was told by the City Council that the charges were this high due to a metre they put on the property to measure usage, which they claimed is an EU directive.
It is allege that a staff member from City Hall first told her that the metres cost a lot of money and that everyone in the building has to pay towards it, but then was informed that as all the other spaces in the building are domestic and she is commercial, she is actually the only person paying for it. She assured the Post that she was never notified of this change in cost.
With the bad weather at the moment, Limerick is suffering. Ms Morrisey, like a lot of other business owners at this time, is trying to save every penny, in order for her establishment to survive.
“I am not refusing to pay, I have never missed a payment,” she said “I just think fair is fair and what I’m being charged is not right”.
