Irish electricity prices are the highest in the European Union, new data from Eurostat has shown, with consumers here paying almost 40 per cent more than the average in the region.
That adds up to €480 a year to average Irish bills, with factors such as a dispersed population, a weakly connected grid, imported fossil fuels and the growth of data centres pushing up costs.
However, gas prices are slightly below the EU average, coming in 8 per cent cheaper, the data showed.
Irish consumers pay 40.42 cent per kilowatt hour of electricity, including VAT and levies, compared to the EU average of 28.96 cent.
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Germany comes in second at 38.69 cent, with Belgium in third at 34.99 cent.
The lowest prices are charged in Hungary, where a unit of electricity costs an average of 10.82 cent, with Malta at 12.82 cent and Bulgaria at 13.55 cent.
Bonkers.ie’s Daragh Cassidy said the figures are not surprising, with Irish consumers paying prices above the EU average for some time.
“The reasons we pay so much more are complex. We’ve a relatively small and dispersed population with a lot of one-off housing, so the costs for the upkeep of our electricity network are very high on a per capita basis,” he said.
“The rapid growth of the population and the increase in the number of data centres operating here in recent years also hasn’t helped. This is putting pressure on the grid. And in recent years we’ve had to procure high-cost, emergency gas generation to plug the gap between electricity demand and supply.”
Although Irish customers pay less than some EU countries for gas, costs here are still the eighth highest in the EU, with the price almost three times what it was before Russia began its war in Ukraine. Gas is used to generate more than 40 per cent of Ireland’s electricity.
Older, smaller power plants and the isolation of Ireland compared to other countries also impacts our ability to access cheaper electricity from abroad. Ireland currently has two interconnectors with the UK, and a new connection with France is being constructed which is due to come online in 2028.
“Unfortunately, in the short to medium term, I don’t see much of this changing. And while more renewables should help bring prices down a bit, we need to be more honest about their true costs and the actual potential savings,” Cassidy said.
“Renewables require a lot of investment in the grid, as well as huge amounts of battery storage, the cost of which ends up getting passed on to consumers. And the highly variable and intermittent nature of wind and solar means they push up other electricity system costs.”
However, he noted, households can bring prices down by switching providers, taking advantage of discounts offered for a period of usually a year. Accessing smart meter plans can also help customers shift their electricity use to cheaper times of day, further reducing bills.
