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Latest market review shows prices remain stable in December

​Full year analysis reveals no evidence of price spikes in 2018


December 2018 data–The prices charged for the collection of household waste were broadly stable in December. This was the second full month where waste collection firms could no longer apply flat-rate pricing.

For this month's report, there are 2 parts:

1. Part 1 - month-on-month comparison (November to December)
2. Part 2 - full year review (January to December)

Part 1

The Price Monitoring Group, which was established to observe and track the cost of residential household waste collection, monitors 26 service providers from across the country. This comprises 19 individual companies with some operating in more than one area.

In order to establish what charges are applied by waste collection firms, the Price Monitoring Group uses a variety of contact options, including phone calls and reviewing the websites of the waste collection firms.

All contact is done using a mystery-shopping approach. As has been the case throughout the entire series of price monitoring campaigns, the overall pricing landscape remains complex. To date, no single or uniform price arrangement across all of the service providers has emerged, although there does appear be a migration towards one pricing plan across the majority of firms; Service Charge including a Weight Allowance Plus Per KG Charge for Excess Above Allowance.

To demonstrate the complexity of the market, some service providers offer multiple waste collection packages although the total number of packages, which currently stands at 51, was unchanged from November to December (a full breakdown of all service offers is included with this report).

Complex Price Models
During the December mystery calling campaign, it was established there was no change in the total number of pricing models compared to November; the total number continues to stand at 8. Examples of price models include: Service charge plus per kg weight charge; E-tagand other options(the full list of all pricing models is incorporated with this report under the data analysis).

Where prices did change
Across the 51 price plans, price movements were recorded in 10, including price increases and decreases, those include:

1. Service Provider A – Waste lift charge increased from €7.50 to €9 and the lift charge for organic increased from €4 to €5 (Service charge plus charge per lift per bin).
2. Service Provider B – Waste lift charge increased from €7.50 to €9(Service charge plus charge per lift per bin).
3. Service Provider B– Service charge increased from €10 to €11.The per KG weight charge also increased from .21cents to .35 (Service charge plus KG weight charge).
4. Service Provider C– Service charge decreased from €11 to €10(Service charge plus KG weight charge).
5. Service Provider D – per kg lift charge on organic bins increased from €0.10 to €0.12 (Service charge plus per KG weight charge).
6. Service Provider D – Service charge increased from €19 to €19.08 (Service charge (including weight allowance) plus per KG charge for excess weight above allowance).
7. Service Provider N – Service charge decreased from €13.33 to €2.50 but the lift charges increased across all three bins, increases were as follows, waste rose from €11 to €13, recycling and compost lift increased from €5 to €7 (Service charge plus charge per lift per bin).
8. Service Provider S – Organic KG excess charge increased from €0.12 to €0.17 (Service charge (including weight allowance) plus per KG charge for excess weight above allowance).
9. Service Provider W – Service charge increased from €5 to €5.83 (Service charge plus charge per lift per bin plus KG excess charge).
10. Service Provider X – Service charge increased from €5.41 to €6.25 (Service charge plus charge per lift per bin plus KG excess charge).

Why information is anonymised
The purpose of the group was to gain a broad understanding of whether or not prices fluctuated and if so, by how much during the period and following the phase-out of flat rate pricing.

Composition of the PMG
The group comprises representatives from:
- Waste Policy & Resource Efficiency Division
- An economist from the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment,
- A statistician from the Central Statistics Office.
- Shelfwatch – an independent price monitoring group and
- Frank Conway, (MoneyWhizz) – independent consumer expert.

To date, the Price Monitoring Group has met on seventeen separate occasions: 13th September, 11th October, 14th November, 12th December, 9th January 2018, 13th February, 13th of March, 10th April, 14th, May, 20th June, 17th July, August 14th, September 11th , October 16th, November 14th, December 11th 2018 and January 15th 2019.

Part 2

2018 Review

Full-year comparison
For this analysis, the prices charged in January were compared to those charged in December. It is important to keep in mind that over the course of the 12 months, waste collection firms were obliged to migrate away from offering flat-rate pricing. In considering the data, we examined if prices fluctuated in specific like-for-like pricing models.

The findings of this analysis are as follows:

· In January 2018, there were 41 different price plans available.
· Of the 41, 30 were still being offered in December 2018.
· Of the 30, 19 price plans remained stable, 3 fell and 8 increased.

Like-for-like price comparison(where firms were offering the same pricing models in January and December):

- 19 price plans experienced no changes. 8 saw increases and 3 saw decreases, breakdown as follows:

Service Provider F –Service charge rose from €3.75 to €4.17 (Service charge, charge per lift per bin plus per KG weight charges)
Service Provider O –Service charge rose from €7.17 to €9.17 (Service charge, charge per lift per bin plus per KG weight charges).
Service Provider Q – Service charge rose from €25 to €26.50 (Service charge (including weight allowance) plus per KG charge for excess weight above allowance).
Service Provider R – Service charge rose from €25 to €26.50 (Service charge (including weight allowance) plus per KG charge for excess weight above allowance)
Service Provider U – Service charge rose from €18 to €19.90 (Service charge (including weight allowance) plus per KG charge for excess weight above allowance).
Service Provider V – Service charge rose from €18 to €19.90 (Service charge (including weight allowance) plus per KG charge for excess weight above allowance).
Service Provider X – Service charge rose from €5.42 to €6.25 (service charge plus charge per lift per bin plus KG excess charge).
Service Provider Z – Service charge rose from €26.50 to €27.75 (Service charge (including weight allowance) plus per KG charge for excess weight above allowance).
Service Provider J – Service charge fell from €18.50 to €16.50 (Service charge (including weight allowance) plus per KG charge for excess weight above allowance).
Service Provider W – Service charge fell from €5 to €3.83 (service charge plus charge per lift per bin plus KG excess charge).
Service Provider Y – Service charge fell from €4.50 to €4.40 (Service charge plus charge per lift per bin).

Submissions to: pricemonitoringgroup@dccae.gov.ie
Please note this email has been put in place to facilitate the submission of relevant price information to the Group. The Group will consider all submission that can help inform it in respect to prices residential users pay for the collection of residential waste. Unfortunately, the Group is not in a position to respond to individual submissions at this time.