Irish Water is reporting a 300% increase in calls calls to its centre today.

The majority of calls are from people seeking their account number ahead of the looming water conservation grant deadline on October 8th.

The facility is also reporting calls from people seeking to pay their water bills ahead of the second billing cycle.

Irish Water is advising customers that they can find their account numbers on their Irish Water bills, and through the online account management system.

The utility says customers are experiencing "long wait times".

Eamon Gallen, head of customer operations at Irish Water, says: "Call volumes increased significantly at the call centre last week and we have increased our staffing to deal with these extra queries".

"Customers are experiencing longer than usual wait times at the busiest periods so we are encouraging them to avail of the options available".

"We are doing what we can to deal with the extra call volumes. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and ask customers to bear with us at this busy time", Mr Gallen added.