The cost of collecting household waste remained broadly stable in June. This is according to the latest market analysis carried out by the Price Monitoring Group. Similar to a month earlier, there were some price increases and decreases recorded.
The Price Monitoring Group, which was established to monitor the cost of residential household waste collection during the phasing out of flat rate services, monitors 26 service providers. This comprises 19 individual companies with several of those being monitored in more than one area.
The June price monitoring campaign included a mix of phone calls to waste collection firms along with additional inspections of their websites to confirm prices. This approach reveals that prices charged to residential users is complex; there is no single or uniform price arrangement across all of the service providers monitored. An example of the complexity of the market shows that some service providers offer multiple waste collection packages. In June, the total number of those packages decreased by one, from the 47 recorded in May to 46 (a full breakdown of all service offers is included with this report).
Range of pricing models available
Many waste collection companies continue to offer a range of price plans to their customers. And, similar to what was observed in the May campaign, the general level of customer service is now an improvement over what was observed at the start of 2018. However, there continues to be a minority of firms that have poor customer service or where websites are not fully transparent on prices.
Complex Price Models
Across all of the companies monitored, there are 9 different price models. This is the same number recorded in May.
Examples of price models include: Service charge plus per kg weight charge; E-tag, Flat Rate and other options.
Flat-rate falls again
On the matter of flat-rate plans, in June, this decreased by one. This means that of the companies actively monitored by the Price Monitoring Group, only one waste collection company now offers a flat-rate plan.
However, H
Some upward price movements
Across the 46 various price plans available; there were 7 cases where prices changed. Of the seven, five recorded an increase while two recorded a decrease.
Of those recording an increase, those were as follows:
- Service Provider D – monthly service charge increased from €29.17 to €36.00 (Service charge including weight allowance plus per KG charge for excess above allowance).
- Service Provider J – monthly service charge increased from €18.50 to €20.95 (Service charge including weight allowance plus per KG charge for excess above allowance).
- Service Provider K – monthly service charge increased from €24.17 to €26.67 (Service charge including weight allowance plus per KG charge for excess above allowance).
- Service Provider O – monthly service charge increased from €7.17 to €9.17 (Service charge plus charge per lift per bin plus per KG excess charge). It also increased its lift charge from €3.20 to €9.05.
- Service Provider T – monthly service charge increased from €24.92 to €26.75 (Service charge including weight allowance plus per KG charge for excess above allowance).
Some prices also decreased
- Service Provider C – monthly service charge decreased from €15 to €10 (Service charge plus KG weight charge).
- Service Provider I – monthly service charge decreased from €29 to €20.95 (Flat-Rate).
Other changes
In addition to the service charge changes, the June analysis also recorded a degree of service plan adjustments including:
- Upward adjustments to the Waste KG Allowance across a number of waste collection companies.
- Minor adjustments to per KG waste charges. For example, one company reduced its Waste Excess per KG charge from €0.22 to €0.19 while another increased its Excess Waste Per KG Charge from €0.21 to €0.35.
Why some information is anonymised
The purpose of the group is to gain a broad understanding of whether or not prices are fluctuating and if they are, by how much during the period flat rate services are being phased out.
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, an independent consumer expert.
To date, the Price Monitoring Group has met on eleven separate occasions: 13th September, 11th October, 14th November, 12th December, 9th January 2018, 13th February, 13th of March, 10th April, 14th May, 20th June and 17th July.
For more information, please click on the following link: https://www.dccae.gov.ie/en-ie/environment/topics/waste/the-householder-and-waste/household-waste-collection/Pages/Price-Monitoring-Group-.aspx