merrion street

Service levels show improvement across many providers

Key findings from May market analysis

There has been no significant change in the price homeowners are being charged for the collection of household waste. This is according to the latest market analysis carried out by the Price Monitoring Group during the month of May. Prices charged to homeowners are broadly in line with those recorded a month earlier albeit with some increases and some decreases being recorded. They are also broadly in line with other months when like-for-like price service offers are compared.

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 May market analysis reveals there continues to be no single or uniform price arrangement across all of the service providers monitored; some service providers offer a variety of different waste collection packages to homeowners. In fact, the May analysis reveals an expansion in the overall number of services; there are now 47, a rise of 2 from the previous month and the most since the Price Monitoring Group began tracking the market (a full breakdown of all service offers is included with this report).

Range of pricing models available
Many waste collection companies offer a range of price plans to their customers. Interestingly, the Group noted that during the May mystery calls, there was a general improvement in the quality of service from office staff compared to previous months; in many cases, staff appeared to be more informed about the detail of their company service offering or were prepared to clarify information quickly. This is a welcome development and the Group looks forward to seeing this trend continuing across all companies, especially the minority that still appear to struggle with price clarity, either over the phone or on company websites.

Complex Price Models
Across all of the companies monitored, there are 9 different price models. This is the same number recorded in April.

Examples of price models include: Service charge plus per kg weight charge; E-tag, Flat Rate and other options.

There has been an increase in the number of companies offering what continues to be the most popular price model across all 26 service providers; Service Charge (incl weight allowance) plus per KG Charge for Excess above Allowance. 21 of the 26 service providers now offer this price model, an increase of 1 from the April analysis.

Flat-rate services remains at 2
The number of service providers still offering flat-rate collection services remains at 2.
However, H


Some upward price movements
While the overall trend in prices is stable, the Group has noted some price increases in Series 9 when compared to the previous month, those include:

1. Service Provider F – monthly service charge increased from €24.99 to €25.67 (Service charge plus weight band charge).
2. Service Provider R – monthly service charge increased from €25.00 to €25.50 (Service charge including weight allowance plus per KG charge for excess above allowance).
3. Service Provider S – monthly service charge increased from €27.50 to €29 (Service charge including weight allowance plus per KG charge for excess above allowance).
4. Service Provider Z – monthly service charge increased from €25 to €27.75 (Service charge including weight allowance plus per KG charge for excess above allowance).

Some prices also decreased
1. Service Provider D – monthly service charge decreased from €19 to €17 (Service charge plus KG weight charge).
2. Service Provider D – monthly service charge decreased from €31.67 to €29.17 (Service charge including weight allowance plus per KG charge for excess above allowance).
3. Service Provider U – monthly service charge decreased from €19 to €17.99 (Service charge including weight allowance plus per KG charge for excess above allowance).

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 ten separate occasions: 13th September, 11th October, 14th November, 12th December, 9th January 2018, 13th February, 13th of March, 10th April, 14th May and 20th June.

Further information on the Price Monitoring Group is available at 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