'Head roll' urged over water bill

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/7292037.stm

Version 0 of 1.

An SDLP MLA has called for "heads to roll" over a multi-million pound error which could cost households an extra £30 on their annual water bill.

John Dallat was speaking as a Stormont committee took evidence from the Department of Regional Development (DRD) and Northern Ireland Water.

Department officials admitted responsibility for producing a "flawed" business plan and figures.

Northern Ireland Water said its own resources would plug the £18m deficit.

The Department of Regional Development was responsible for water before Northern Ireland Water was created last year.

Department officials admitted that poor quality information had been given to Northern Ireland Water when it was set up.

They also acknowledged difficulties around the error and public confidence but said they could not guarantee there would not be future problems under the new arrangement.

Officials said the figures had been "flawed"

Afterwards, Mr Dallat said: "What we saw this morning was a shambles translated into farce.

"The time has come, I think, for the minister to take direct control of this whole mess and heads need to roll. That's the reality."

Ulster Unionist committee chairman Fred Cobain said he was "deeply concerned" about what he heard.

"This information has been in the public domain as far as the DRD are concerned from 2004," he said.

"We paid £40m for consultants to do a business plan. This is what we end up with, a mess."

Eleanor Gill of the Consumer Council said public confidence had been dented.

We discovered the issue, we are tackling it and we are resolving it Katharine BryanNorthern Ireland Water

She said customers should be pitied in light of what she called "flaky figures and flaky data".

Northern Ireland Water said it had devised proposals for filling the gap in its projected income this year.

Chief Executive Katharine Bryan told politicians the proposals would mean no extra government money was needed to resolve the issue.

She said that Northern Ireland Water aimed to keep any impact on customers to an absolute minimum and that the revenue gap was "neither a blunder nor a miscalculation" by Northern Ireland Water.

"We discovered the issue, we are tackling it and we are resolving it," she said.

She added that speculation about the impact on households was "premature".

The regulator, who is preparing a report, will meet the committee later.