Wholesale electricity prices up 12.5% in October

Wholesale electricity prices jumped by 12.5 per cent in the October but are at just a third of the price seen at the peak of the energy crisis in August of last year.

The latest data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows wholesale electricity prices climbed last month, but were still 7.8 per cent lower than in October 2022.

By October of last year wholesale electricity prices had already drastically fallen from a peak in August, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drove a surge in energy prices.

Wholesale electricity prices rose by 194.9 per cent between August 2021 and August 2022, with the wholesale price of electricity peaking at almost €400 per megawatt hour (MWh), versus an average of about €38 per MWh for all of 2020.

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Between the August 2022 peak and October 2023 wholesale electricity prices have fallen by 67.6 per cent.

The energy products index, which includes wholesale prices for electricity as well as petrol, diesel and gas, increased by 8.3 per cent between September and October, but energy prices have decreased by 6.6 per cent since October of last year.

Overall the CSO’s wholesale price index was 1.1 per cent higher in October, but down 2.4 per cent year-on-year. Producer prices for products sold on the domestic market were 3.1 per cent lower in October than the same month last year, while export producer prices have fallen by 2.4 per cent.

Producer prices for food products dropped by 9.3 per cent in the year to October, while the food products, beverages and tobacco index was down by 8.1 per cent. Food products prices on the wholesale market are now the lowest they have been since December 2021.

The biggest annual price decrease has been for dairy products, with prices down by 34.1 per cent in the 12 months to October. Between September and October alone dairy prices fell by 8.8 per cent.

Apart from food products, chemicals and chemical products have seen a 22.3 per cent increase in prices in the 12 months to October, while beverage prices have risen by 9.4 per cent and non-metallic mineral products including glass, concrete and cement have seen prices rise by 8.3 per cent.

Prices for wood and wood products have fallen by 10.8 per cent over the same period, while basic metals prices are down 8.6 per cent.

Wholesale prices for construction products were unchanged in the month to October, but rose by 1.3 per cent in the 12 months since October 2022.