Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government Eoghan Murphy has said that if legislation is enacted by the middle of October, householders who paid their water charges should get a refund by the end of the year.
He also confirmed that those who use excessive amounts of water will start paying levies in July 2019, but will get a warning six months in advance to modify their usage in order to avoid charges.
Minister Murphy today outlined the details of how Irish Water will refund almost one million customers who paid their water bills.
Cheques will be sent directly to customers and the maximum refund will be €325.
The minister also confirmed that Cabinet will discuss the legislation underpinning the other recommendations of the all-party Oireachtas committee which looked at the funding of water.
Normal usage will be paid by the State through general taxation but excessive usage will be paid by the householder.
It will be set at 1.7 times the average household usage and the regulator will define average usage.
The minister revealed that householders' usage will be monitored from January 2018 to the end of that year.
Those found to be using excessive amounts will get a notice in January 2019 to modify their usage - if they do not, they face charges from July 2019.
The minister also confirmed that he has been in talks to ensure that Ireland is complying with EU water directive.
Mr Murphy said: "The Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water Services recommended equal treatment between those who have paid their water charges to date and those who have not.
"In keeping with the Government's commitment to implement the committee's recommendations, the Government will include a provision for refunds in forthcoming legislation, which it is intended to publish shortly.
"Subject to the passage of this legislation, Irish Water will begin an information campaign to inform customers and the public on how the refunds process will work."
Irish Water has said it will cost around €5m to process refunds to those who paid water charges.
It said that additional staff will be required to deal with repayments.
The utility said it is putting in place a mechanism to process cheques and that it will communicate with those who are due refunds once legislation is passed and funding is provided by Government.
Before the summer, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar confirmed that Irish Water customers would be repaid by the end of the year. This will cost around €178m.
The money will come from under-spending across different departments.
The €100 conservation grant which was paid to householders who registered with Irish Water will not be deducted.
