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Business Energy Use 2021

Key Findings

Enterprises purchased €8.6 billion of energy products in 2021

Online ISSN: 2565-6252

CSO statistical publication, 21 June 2023, 11am

COVID-19 Release Information

This release was compiled during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 and 2021 data were impacted by the pandemic particularly in respect of aviation transport fuels

Key Findings

The cost of energy purchases by enterprises in 2021 was €8.6 billion of which 56% was paid for by firms in the Services sector (See Table 1B).
There was an increase of 42% in the quantity of jet kerosene purchased by airlines in 2021 compared with 2020 which was the lowest since the time series began in 2009 due to travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic (See Table 2B).
Purchases of electricity and natural gas accounted for 62% of total energy costs incurred by enterprises in 2021 (See Table 2C and Figure 1).
The quantity of heavy fuel oil and coal increased by 117% and 192% respectively, this was largely due to a gas fired power plant being offline during 2021, while the quantity of peat decreased by 61% (See Table 2B).
The proportion of total energy (in terms of kilotonnes of oil equivalent) purchased by the Services sector increased from 39% in 2020 to 42% in 2021 (see Table 1A).
The use of renewable energy (in ktoe) purchased directly by enterprises increased by 59% between 2012 and 2021 (See Table 2A).
Enterprises with their headquarters based in Dublin used 68% of total energy consumption in 2021 (See Table 7A).

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (21 June 2023) published Business Energy Use 2021.

Commenting on the release Dympna Corry, Statistician in the Environment and Climate Division, said: "The cost of purchases of electricity and natural gas amounted to 62% of the total cost of energy purchases by enterprises in the Industry and Services sectors in 2021. In terms of the quantity of energy consumed (in kilotonnes of oil equivalent), the total share by the Services sector increased from 45% in 2012 to 53% in 2019, decreased to 39% in 2020 and then increased to 42% in 2021. The fall in the share accounted for by the Services sector in 2020 and 2021 compared with 2019 was due to a 59% and 42% decrease respectively in the use of jet kerosene due to travel restrictions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

Fuel Types

Wood biomass (woodpellet, woodchip, woodlog and woodwaste) accounted for 55% of the quantity of renewable energy purchased directly by enterprises in 2021 (this excludes purchases of metered electricity that was generated from renewable sources). The total quantity of renewable energy purchased by enterprises in the Industry and Services sectors was 59% higher in 2021 compared with 2012.

Purchases of coal increased by 192% from 436,000 tonnes in 2020 to 1,275,000 tonnes in 2021. Purchases of heavy fuel oil increased by 117% from 213.7 million litres in 2020 to 464.6 million litres in 2021. Peat decreased by 61% from 1.2 million tonnes in 2020 to 0.5 million tonnes in 2021 - the main use of peat was by power plants to generate electricity. The quantity of electricity from wind turbines generated and consumed onsite in the Industry and Services sectors increased by 27% between 2018 and 2021.

The share of energy, in terms of ktoe, accounted for by enterprises in the Emissions Trading Scheme increased from 46% in 2012 to 51% in 2021."

Editor's Note

This release is based on the energy purchase costs of Industry and Services enterprises resident in Ireland. Energy purchased abroad by enterprises resident in Ireland is included e.g. fuel purchased by an Irish resident airline in other countries. Energy purchased in Ireland by foreign resident enterprises is not included e.g. purchases of autodiesel by a foreign registered vehicle. See Background Notes for more information.

Tables and Graphs

	Electricity	Natural Gas	Petroleum fuels	Solid fuels	Renewable energy	Road transport	Rail transport	Aviation transport	Marine transport
ktoe	14	36	8	8	4	5	0.4	23	1
Purchase Costs	37	25	6	2	1	9	0.4	18	0.5

	Manufacture of Food, Beverages and Tobacco	Manufacture of Rubber, Plastic and Non-metallic Mineral Products	Manufacture of Basic Metals and Metal Products	Electricity and Gas	Wholesale, Retail and Vehicle Repair	Transportation and Storage	Public Administration
ktoe	6	4	5	33	3	26	2
Purchase Costs	6	3	4	19	7	24	4

	ktoe	Purchase Costs
2012	46	25
2013	46	26
2014	46	25
2015	46	25
2016	45	28
2017	44	28
2018	41	27
2019	40	25
2020	52	34
2021	51	38

	Dublin	Cork	Kildare	Limerick	Galway	Meath	Wexford
Counties	61	9	6	6	2	2	1

Table 1A Energy Consumption in ktoe by Sector 2012-2021

Table 1B Energy Consumption in Million Euro by Sector 2012-2021

Table 2A Energy Consumption in ktoe by Detailed Energy Product 2012-2021

Table 2A Energy Consumption in ktoe by Detailed Energy Product 2012-2021
ktoe
Energy Product	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Electricity	1,376	1,383	1,462	1,457	1,550	1,564	1,636	1,601	1,566	1,649

Natural Gas	3,846	3,810	3,769	3,673	4,205	4,275	4,414	4,430	4,367	4,159

Total Petroleum Fuels	652	670	689	653	617	598	615	658	677	926
of which:
Heavy Fuel Oil	256	242	217	161	139	118	111	157	198	431
Diesel/Gas Oil/Marked Gas Oil	198	209	224	222	203	200	213	210	216	225
Kerosene	49	66	63	67	66	65	67	67	58	51
Liquid Petroleum Gas	58	65	72	79	77	83	82	87	79	75
Petroleum Coke	91	88	113	124	133	132	141	137	125	144

Total Solid Fuels	2,018	1,738	1,770	1,954	1,960	1,608	1,226	715	524	942
of which:
Coal	1,426	1,199	1,197	1,381	1,400	1,087	710	262	290	848
Peat	591	539	573	573	560	521	516	453	235	94

Total Renewable Energy (incl. Waste)	263	264	330	320	349	352	367	371	380	417
of which:
Wood Biomass	158	151	181	156	198	185	208	209	203	229
Biogas	7	8	16	16	16	16	16	16	22	21
Landfill Gas	43	38	39	42	40	39	34	32	29	29
Tallow	13	13	32	32	20	23	24	23	33	40
Wind Turbines	1	0	1	1	1	3	4	5	5	5
Solid Recovered Fuel	41	53	62	72	74	86	82	86	88	93

Total Road Transport Fuels	744	792	788	769	800	779	786	769	627	580
of which:
Road Transport Petrol	8	10	9	9	9	9	9	10	9	9
Road Transport Diesel	734	777	773	755	787	765	771	751	611	565
Road Transport Biodiesel	3	4	6	5	4	6	6	7	7	6
Other Road Transport Fuels	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1

Total Rail Transport Fuels	43	42	39	39	41	42	43	44	37	42
of which:
Rail Transport Diesel	39	39	36	36	37	38	38	40	32	38
Rail Transport Electricity	4	4	3	4	4	4	4	5	4	4

Total Aviation Transport Fuels	3,083	2,824	2,828	3,113	3,759	4,150	4,413	4,539	1,841	2,615
of which:
Jet Kerosene	3,083	2,823	2,827	3,111	3,758	4,148	4,412	4,537	1,840	2,614
Aviation Petrol	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1

Total Marine Transport Fuels	27	49	47	59	64	64	70	69	71	74
of which:
Marine Diesel	27	49	47	59	64	64	70	69	71	74

Total (ktoe)	12,052	11,572	11,723	12,037	13,346	13,432	13,571	13,196	10,090	11,405

Open in Excel: Business Energy Use 2021 Table 2A (XLS 13KB)

Table 2B Energy Consumption in Reported Quantities by Detailed Energy Product 2012-2021

Table 2B Energy Consumption in Reported Quantities by Detailed Energy Product 2012-2021

Energy Product	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Electricity ('000 kWh)	15,997,672	16,082,283	16,997,203	16,946,866	18,027,243	18,181,907	19,020,992	18,621,209	18,214,806	19,171,772
Natural Gas ('000 kWh)	44,717,419	44,305,887	43,830,677	42,704,813	48,897,169	49,711,698	51,326,940	51,510,812	50,774,193	48,362,601
Heavy Fuel Oil ('000 litres)	276,571	260,519	233,982	173,681	149,589	127,486	119,687	169,772	213,711	464,622
Diesel/Gas Oil/Marked Gas Oil ('000 litres)	225,983	238,833	256,182	253,755	231,774	228,366	243,887	239,924	247,530	257,571
Kerosene ('000 litres)	58,219	78,051	74,939	79,553	77,810	77,494	79,822	79,485	68,615	60,963
Liquid Petroleum Gas ('000 litres)	97,774	110,994	121,784	133,787	130,109	141,657	139,946	147,814	133,750	126,913
Petroleum Coke ('000 tonnes)	117	115	145	163	175	174	189	181	165	187
Coal ('000 tonnes)	2,145	1,803	1,800	2,076	2,105	1,635	1,068	395	436	1,275
Peat ('000 tonnes)	3,195	2,808	2,812	2,802	2,822	2,692	2,596	2,237	1,221	480
Wood Biomass ('000 tonnes)	532	503	592	513	657	617	693	688	668	743
Biogas ('000 kWh)	79,651	93,210	187,640	186,296	180,801	184,895	190,669	186,417	250,197	240,555
Landfill Gas ('000 kWh)	499,947	439,568	454,412	485,487	461,364	453,479	390,050	369,530	340,997	342,005
Tallow ('000 tonnes)	15	15	35	36	22	26	26	26	36	44
Wind Turbines ('000 kWh)	6,923	4,924	6,635	16,024	17,010	29,945	48,496	57,156	56,020	61,503
Solid Recovered Fuel ('000 tonnes)	127	150	174	214	226	226	226	226	226	247
Road Transport Petrol ('000 litres)	9,538	12,413	11,397	11,351	10,935	10,795	11,113	12,081	11,045	10,661
Road Transport Diesel ('000 litres)	838,916	889,176	884,265	863,453	899,968	874,608	882,077	859,302	698,670	645,935
Road Transport Biodiesel ('000 litres)	4,117	5,192	6,891	6,500	4,830	7,204	7,199	9,140	8,818	7,897
Other Road Transport Fuels ('000 kWh)	0	29	3	71	337	260	872	4,760	7,252	8,008
Rail Transport Diesel ('000 litres)	45,090	44,310	40,638	40,751	42,060	43,212	43,817	45,254	36,906	43,479
Rail Transport Electricity ('000 kWh)	46,743	43,346	40,550	43,887	46,189	47,703	52,148	54,450	51,610	49,168
Jet Kerosene ('000 litres)	3,658,192	3,350,125	3,355,318	3,692,106	4,459,551	4,923,098	5,235,962	5,384,662	2,184,084	3,101,884
Aviation Petrol ('000 litres)	1,091	1,218	1,335	1,844	1,938	1,496	1,474	1,718	1,292	1,820
Marine Diesel ('000 litres)	31,160	55,768	53,783	67,841	73,613	73,221	80,192	78,730	81,371	84,765

Open in Excel: Business Energy Use 2021 Table 2B (XLS 12KB)

Table 2C Energy Consumption in Million Euro by Detailed Energy Product 2012-2021

Table 2C Energy Consumption in Million Euro by Detailed Energy Product 2012-2021
€m
Energy Product	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Electricity	2,060	2,183	2,304	2,245	2,196	2,246	2,612	2,503	2,478	3,186

Natural Gas	1,589	1,757	1,547	1,268	1,428	1,502	1,662	1,402	1,377	2,191

Total Petroleum Fuels	478	487	468	371	310	327	371	404	363	541
of which:
Heavy Fuel Oil	173	157	138	91	69	64	68	102	110	248
Diesel/Gas Oil/Marked Gas Oil	188	192	195	160	128	139	164	161	143	169
Kerosene	48	62	56	47	43	47	53	53	37	39
Liquid Petroleum Gas	57	64	66	59	57	63	67	70	61	66
Petroleum Coke	12	12	13	14	13	15	19	19	12	19

Total Solid Fuels	559	466	459	503	508	449	442	285	177	174
of which:
Coal	214	163	155	191	194	151	125	36	41	121
Peat	345	303	304	311	313	299	316	248	136	53

Total Renewable Energy (incl. Waste)	56	60	67	64	76	83	86	76	73	101
of which:
Wood Biomass	33	34	40	36	49	54	57	45	44	63
Biogas	1	1	5	5	4	3	6	6	10	9
Landfill Gas	20	22	19	20	19	18	16	15	10	17
Tallow	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Wind Turbines	0	0	0	0	0	3	4	5	5	5
Solid Recovered Fuel	2	2	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	6

Total Road Transport Fuels	980	1,076	1,028	936	905	907	989	966	744	799
of which:
Road Transport Petrol	12	17	15	13	12	12	14	15	13	15
Road Transport Diesel	963	1,054	1,007	915	888	888	968	941	721	776
Road Transport Biodiesel	4	5	7	7	5	7	7	10	9	8
Other Road Transport Fuels	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1

Total Rail Transport Fuels	61	65	59	50	38	30	32	33	29	35
of which:
Rail Transport Diesel	54	59	52	43	31	24	24	25	21	25
Rail Transport Electricity	6	6	7	7	7	6	8	8	8	9

Total Aviation Transport Fuels	2,332	2,015	1,930	1,634	1,535	1,873	2,463	2,481	659	1,540
of which:
Jet Kerosene	2,331	2,013	1,928	1,632	1,532	1,871	2,461	2,479	658	1,538
Aviation Petrol	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2

Total Marine Transport Fuels	24	44	46	50	39	52	42	51	38	43
of which:
Marine Diesel	24	44	46	50	39	52	42	51	38	43

Total (€m excl. VAT)	8,140	8,152	7,909	7,121	7,036	7,469	8,698	8,201	5,938	8,610

Open in Excel: Business Energy Use 2021 Table 2C (XLS 13KB)

Table 3A Energy Consumption in ktoe by Detailed NACE Rev.2 Sector 2012-2021

Table 3B Energy Consumption in Million Euro by Detailed NACE Rev.2 Sector 2012-2021

Table 4A Energy Consumption in ktoe by Summary Energy Product and Summary NACE Rev.2 Sector 2021

Table 4B Energy Consumption in ktoe by Summary Energy Product and Summary NACE Rev.2 Sector 2020

Table 4C Energy Consumption in ktoe by Summary Energy Product and Summary NACE Rev.2 Sector 2019

Table 4D Energy Consumption in ktoe by Summary Energy Product and Summary NACE Rev.2 Sector 2018

Table 4E Energy Consumption in ktoe by Summary Energy Product and Summary NACE Rev.2 Sector 2017

Table 4F Energy Consumption in ktoe by Summary Energy Product and Summary NACE Rev.2 Sector 2016

Table 4G Energy Consumption in ktoe by Summary Energy Product and Summary NACE Rev.2 Sector 2015

Table 4H Energy Consumption in ktoe by Summary Energy Product and Summary NACE Rev.2 Sector 2014

Table 4I Energy Consumption in ktoe by Summary Energy Product and Summary NACE Rev.2 Sector 2013

Table 4J Energy Consumption in ktoe by Summary Energy Product and Summary NACE Rev.2 Sector 2012

Table 5A Energy Consumption in Million Euro by Summary Energy Product and Summary NACE Rev.2 Sector 2021

Table 5B Energy Consumption in Million Euro by Summary Energy Product and Summary NACE Rev.2 Sector 2020

Table 5C Energy Consumption in Million Euro by Summary Energy Product and Summary NACE Rev.2 Sector 2019

Table 5D Energy Consumption in Million Euro by Summary Energy Product and Summary NACE Rev.2 Sector 2018

Table 5E Energy Consumption in Million Euro by Summary Energy Product and Summary NACE Rev.2 Sector 2017

Table 5F Energy Consumption in Million Euro by Summary Energy Product and Summary NACE Rev.2 Sector 2016

Table 5G Energy Consumption in Million Euro by Summary Energy Product and Summary NACE Rev.2 Sector 2015

Table 5H Energy Consumption in Million Euro by Summary Energy Product and Summary NACE Rev.2 Sector 2014

Table 5I Energy Consumption in Million Euro by Summary Energy Product and Summary NACE Rev.2 Sector 2013

Table 5J Energy Consumption in Million Euro by Summary Energy Product and Summary NACE Rev.2 Sector 2012

Table 6A Energy Consumption in ktoe by Participation in Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) 2012-2021

Table 6B Energy Consumption in ktoe by Summary Energy Product and Participation in Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) 2021

Table 6C Energy Consumption in Million Euro by Participation in Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) 2012-2021

Table 7A Energy Consumption in ktoe by County 2012-2021

Table 7B Energy Consumption in Million Euro by County 2012-2021

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Business Energy Use 2021

Key Findings

Enterprises purchased €8.6 billion of energy products in 2021

COVID-19 Release Information

Key Findings

Statistician's Comment

Fuel Types

Editor's Note

Tables and Graphs

Contents

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Table 1A Energy Consumption in ktoe by Sector 2012-2021
ktoe
Sector	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Industry	6,625	6,321	6,578	6,509	7,157	6,888	6,649	6,235	6,149	6,576
Services	5,427	5,251	5,145	5,528	6,189	6,544	6,922	6,961	3,941	4,829

Total (ktoe)	12,052	11,572	11,723	12,037	13,346	13,432	13,571	13,196	10,090	11,405

Table 3A Energy Consumption in ktoe by Detailed NACE Rev.2 Sector 2012-2021
ktoe
NACE Rev. 2 Sector	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Mining and Quarrying (05-09)	109	107	103	67	77	73	71	73	51	52
Manufacture of Food, Beverages and Tobacco (10-12)	577	608	685	648	655	687	701	695	719	709
Manufacture of Wood and Paper (16-18)	160	135	165	133	138	144	158	126	127	123
Manufacture of Chemicals (20)	153	148	153	152	148	129	133	126	123	129
Manufacture of Pharmaceuticals (21)	124	122	128	125	144	144	150	158	162	162
Manufacture of Rubber, Plastic and Non-metallic Mineral Products (22-23)	363	356	474	459	480	476	525	506	472	504
Manufacture of Basic Metals and Metal Products (24-25)	497	642	653	640	631	655	653	624	649	599
Manufacture of Electronic and Electrical Equipment (26-27)	81	87	99	110	117	118	121	124	132	125
Other Manufacturing	175	186	219	180	191	204	218	198	226	189
Electricity and Gas (35)	4,255	3,791	3,694	3,796	4,369	4,039	3,707	3,352	3,242	3,729
Water Supply, Sewerage, and Waste Management (36-39)	78	67	127	120	135	132	126	145	137	131
Construction (41-43)	56	71	79	77	74	85	85	108	109	125
Wholesale, Retail, and Vehicle Repair (45-47)	416	453	443	464	449	441	451	433	380	369
Transportation and Storage (49-53)	3,774	3,449	3,421	3,680	4,349	4,757	5,041	5,088	2,254	3,012
Accommodation and Food Services (55-56)	230	235	228	234	221	203	204	197	140	152
Information and Communication (58-63)	122	143	165	222	226	237	272	321	360	464
Financial, Insurance and Real Estate Activities (64-68)	81	71	67	87	71	73	81	76	91	76
Public Administration (84)	281	282	243	242	245	243	253	268	237	226
Education (85)	97	144	139	145	147	147	157	152	129	140
Health, Residential Care and Social Work Activities (86-88)	116	126	120	126	132	133	131	132	118	152
Other Services Sectors	310	348	318	330	350	310	331	294	234	240

Total (ktoe)	12,052	11,572	11,723	12,037	13,346	13,432	13,571	13,196	10,090	11,405

Table 4A Energy Consumption in ktoe by Summary Energy Product and Summary NACE Rev.2 Sector 2021
ktoe
NACE Rev.2 Sector	Electricity	Natural Gas	Total Petroleum Fuels	Total Solid Fuels	Total Renewable Energy (incl. Waste)	Total Road Transport Fuels	Total Rail Transport Fuels	Total Aviation Transport Fuels	Total Marine Transport Fuels	Total (ktoe)
Mining and Quarrying (05-09)	23	0	11	15	0	4	0	0	0	52
Manufacturing (10-33)	527	1,347	284	90	228	44	0	0	20	2,540
Electricity and Gas (35)	4	2,325	408	836	151	5	0	0	0	3,729
Water Supply, Sewerage, and Waste Management (36-39)	65	14	5	0	26	21	0	0	0	131
Construction (41-43)	12	7	49	0	0	57	0	0	0	125
Wholesale, Retail, and Vehicle Repair (45-47)	187	53	31	0	1	97	0	0	0	369
Transportation and Storage (49-53)	45	21	20	0	0	232	42	2,608	43	3,012
Accommodation and Food Services (55-56)	86	43	10	0	1	11	0	0	0	152
Public Administration, Education, Health and Care (84-88)	164	194	88	0	3	54	0	6	8	517
Other Services Sectors	536	155	20	0	8	56	0	0	4	779

Total (ktoe)	1,649	4,159	926	942	417	580	42	2,615	74	11,405

Table 7A Energy Consumption in ktoe by County 2012-2021
ktoe
County	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Carlow	36	33	37	31	35	40	39	39	33	36
Cavan	142	110	144	165	165	167	201	173	176	190
Clare	50	58	62	50	49	40	51	42	46	42
Cork	848	805	793	870	1,031	997	908	969	897	604
Donegal	58	67	66	65	62	68	72	75	54	52
Dublin	8,346	7,701	7,600	7,941	8,981	9,125	9,232	8,991	6,123	7,708
Galway	155	164	147	139	167	149	129	126	119	115
Kerry	112	120	119	119	115	118	122	124	109	107
Kildare	476	485	518	534	568	580	615	561	518	570
Kilkenny	107	106	112	114	108	122	132	127	123	130
Laois	18	20	24	17	19	27	28	22	17	17
Leitrim	14	22	22	22	22	17	18	15	10	10
Limerick	597	769	796	770	795	774	781	758	746	711
Longford	36	31	38	42	38	38	45	35	30	21
Louth	227	227	271	298	299	290	299	288	276	289
Mayo	67	73	83	77	85	69	76	95	83	84
Meath	122	125	145	120	125	133	132	128	130	129
Monaghan	29	36	62	35	29	40	40	29	31	28
Offaly	29	27	35	27	30	30	28	24	25	21
Roscommon	23	25	39	33	29	26	28	27	32	26
Sligo	56	69	60	57	63	71	73	65	61	51
Tipperary	145	161	163	168	174	164	158	147	149	138
Waterford	152	118	130	100	107	121	119	124	118	124
Westmeath	72	78	88	81	91	85	78	74	72	74
Wexford	85	90	110	96	86	89	102	83	64	65
Wicklow	38	39	46	42	52	41	50	44	39	42
Foreign	11	10	14	22	21	9	13	11	10	20

Total (ktoe)	12,052	11,572	11,723	12,037	13,346	13,432	13,571	13,196	10,090	11,405