Updated 20 November, 9am

AMID THE SOUND and fury in the Dáil chamber yesterday afternoon, Minister Alan Kelly’s announcement on water charges contained some particularly interesting details.

The basic facts of “Water Charges 2.0″ have been laid out, and you can read about them here.

You can also read about the shenanigans in the Dáil chamber here, if you’re into that kind of thing.

However, there is one group of people who, it has emerged, will actually MAKE money from the new deal.

Under the terms announced by the government today, single people with septic tanks or other waste treatment facilities will be up €20 each year.

Septic tank Septic tank

Here’s how, in the Minister’s own words:

• “The capped charges will be €160 for single adult households…”
• “Households with either a water supply only or sewage only service [including those with septic tanks] will pay 50% of the new rates”
• That’s €80
• “All eligible households will receive a Water Conservation Grant of €100 per year.”
• That’s €20 in profit, every year, until January 2019.

So if you live alone, and you have a septic tank, you’ll make money from the new water charges regime, something a Department of Environment spokesperson confirmed to TheJournal.ie.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, there were no fewer than 449,109 registered septic tanks in the country as of April 2014.

While it cannot be ascertained how many of those are owned by single people, it’s fair to say a sizeable number of customers will be profiting once the €100 rebate comes into force in September 2015.

Here’s how the rest you can apply for your €100 rebate.

First published 19 November, 9.45pm

Read: It will be September 2015 before you can apply for your €100 water grant>

Confirmed: Here’s how much you’ll be paying for water – and what happens if you don’t>

Making a difference

A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

For the price of one cup of coffee each week you can make sure we can keep reliable, meaningful news open to everyone regardless of their ability to pay.

Support us Learn More