Price Monitoring Group - Little change in May prices ​ - mywaste My Waste

Price Monitoring Group – Little change in May prices ​

17 Jun 2019

compliance-scheme

Where prices did change, more decreased than increased

May 2019 data – There was little change recorded in the prices residential waste collection firms charge for their services in May. This is based on the latest analysis conducted by the Price Monitoring Group which actively monitors 26 service providers from across the country. This comprises 19 individual companies with some firms operating in more than one area.

Pricing landscape for residential waste collection is complex

Similar to previous analysis, many of the waste collection firms monitored offer multiple waste collection packages to their customers. This means there are far more waste collection packages than actual firms actively monitored.

In the month of May, the total number of recorded waste collection packages was 49, this represents a decrease of 2 from the previous month (a full breakdown of all service offers is included as part of this report).

During the May mystery calling campaign, there was no change in the total number of price packages compared to the previous month which stands at 8. Examples of price packages include: Service charge plus per kg weight chargeE-tag and other options (the full list of all pricing models is incorporated with this report under the data analysis).

Where prices did change

Some price variations occurred across the 49 price plans; a majority of those were decreases.

The May price variations are as follows:

  1. Service Provider A – Decreased the service charge from €25.50 to €24.50 (Service charge including weight allowance plus per KG charge for excess weight above allowance).
  2. Service Provider A – Increased the charge per kg for the waste bin from .33cent to .35cent (Service charge plus per kg weight charge).
  3. Service Provider B – Decreased the charge per lift on the organic bin from €5 to €4. (Service charge plus charge per lift per bin).
  4. Service Provider K – Decreased the service charge from €26.67 to €24.17 (Service charge including weight allowance plus per KG charge for excess weight above allowance).
  5. Service Provider K – Decreased the service charge from €26.50 to €24.50 (Service charge including weight allowance plus per KG charge for excess weight above allowance).
  6. Service Provider P – The charge per lift on Waste, Recycling and Organic increased; Waste from €11.20 to €12, Recycling from €3.80 to €4 and Organic from €5.20 to €5.50 (Service charge plus charge per lift per bin).

Communication of price data

Generally, access to price information was satisfactory; it is important both staff training and website updates are maintained to ensure customers can make fully informed decisions on the most appropriate pricing packages for their needs. On this point, one firm could simplify their pricing arrangement. Operated under a Service Charge plus Weight Band Charge model, its service charge appears to be determined by weight on a rolling monthly basis. While it is the only firm that promotes services under this pricing model, the Price Monitoring Group is concerned that the pricing structure lacks sufficient up-front clarity for the benefit of residential users.

Why information is anonymised

The purpose of the Price Monitoring Group is to establish and track whether the prices householders pay for the collection of household waste fluctuates and if so, by how much. It does this by using a mystery-shopping approach to a proportion of licensed waste collection firms. However, since price monitoring is not carried out on a whole-of-market basis, it is not in a position to publish names of those firms that are actively monitored.

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 twenty-two separate occasions: 13th September, 11th October, 14thNovember, 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, January 15th 2019, February 12th, March 14th, April 9th , May 14th and June 11th 2019.