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The median residential electricity bill in 2021 was €1,268 which was 14.1% higher than the 2020 median bill (see Table 1A).
The median residential gas bill in 2021 was €740 which was 2.6% lower than the 2020 median bill (see Table 1B).
Just under half (49%) of residential electricity customers that paid between €750 and €1,000 in 2020 paid between €1,000 and €1,500 in 2021 (see Table 2A).
Around 46% of residential electricity customers that were in the €500<€750 bill cost band in 2020 moved into the €750<€1,000 bill cost band in 2021.
There was less movement for residential gas customers with 76% of those who paid less than €500 in 2020 remaining in that bill cost band in 2021. Similarly, 59% of residential gas customers stayed in the €500<€750 band in both years, 52% stayed in the €750<€1,000 band, and 65% in the €1,000<€1,500 band (see Table 2B).
In 2021, 30% of residential electricity customers paid between €1,000 and €1,500. A further 23% paid between €1,500 and €2,000, up from 14% of customers in this bill cost band in 2020 (see Table 2C).
Residential gas customers were more evenly spread across the bill cost bands in 2021 probably reflecting that some customers used gas mainly for cooking while some used it as their main heating fuel (see Table 2D).
The residential electricity median bill cost is the mid-point of all the bills in a year after sorting them in bill cost order.
| Electricity | Gas | |
| 2015 | 1095 | 746 |
| 2016 | 1030 | 702 |
| 2017 | 1051 | 670 |
| 2018 | 1109 | 782 |
| 2019 | 1040 | 752 |
| 2020 | 1111 | 760 |
| 2021 | 1268 | 740 |
| 2020 | 2021 | |
| €1 < €500 | 230.972 | 165.86 |
| €500 < €750 | 318.145 | 201.926 |
| €750 < €1,000 | 326.715 | 330.021 |
| €1,000 < €1,500 | 715.179 | 625.283 |
| €1,500 < €2,000 | 279.556 | 474.959 |
| €2,000 < €3,000 | 142.208 | 202.425 |
| €3,000 or more | 43.202 | 55.503 |
| 2020 | 2021 | |
| €1 < €500 | 153.825 | 163.14 |
| €500 < €750 | 170.434 | 173.099 |
| €750 < €1,000 | 146.596 | 140.427 |
| €1,000 < €1,500 | 140.271 | 138.758 |
| €1,500 < €2,000 | 36.649 | 34.416 |
| €2,000 < €3,000 | 14.969 | 13.142 |
| €3,000 or more | 4.435 | 4.197 |
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Statistician's Comment
Commenting on the release Dympna Corry, Statistician in the Environment and Climate Division, said: "This is the first time that this report has been published. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) combined national average electricity and gas final consumption prices from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) with metered consumption from ESB Networks and Gas Networks Ireland. The combined files provide estimates of the bill cost at meter level for the period 2015 to 2021.
Electricity and Gas Bills by County
The release shows the median residential electricity and gas bill costs by county for 2015-2021. The median residential electricity bill in 2021 was €1,268 which was 14.1% or €157 higher than the 2020 median (see Table 1A). In contrast, the median residential gas bill in 2021 was €740 which was 2.6% or €20 lower than the 2020 median (see Table 1B).
The median residential electricity bill cost in 2021 was higher in every county than in 2020 (see Table 1A). In 2021, Kildare had the highest median residential electricity bill cost at €1,400 followed by Meath at €1,384. The lowest median electricity bill costs in 2021 were in Donegal at €1,066 and Leitrim at €1,093. The highest median residential gas bill in 2021 was €778 in Dublin followed by Meath at €766 (see Table 1B). Households using electricity or gas as their main space heating fuel are likely to have higher electricity and gas bills than households using oil for space heating.
Residential electricity customers in Dublin accounted for 26% of bill costs in 2021 followed by Cork at 12% (see Table 5A).
Comparison with 2020
The release shows that residential electricity customers tended to pay more in 2021 than in 2020. For example, 49% of residential electricity customers that paid between €750 and €1,000 in 2020 moved into the €1,000<€1,500 bill cost band in 2021 (see Table 2A). This upward trend in 2021 was less noticeable for non-residential electricity customers although 33% moved from the €750<€1,000 band in 2020 to the €1,000<€1,500 band in 2021 (see Table 3A).
In terms of total residential and non-residential electricity bill costs, in 2021 there was an estimated €5.9 billion paid in 2021 which was 25% higher than the estimated electricity bill costs in 2020 of €4.7 billion. Residential electricity customers accounted for 48% of the total 2021 electricity bill cost (see Table 4A). This is a change from 2015 to 2020 when the total electricity bill costs for the residential sector were higher than those for the non-residential sector.
Treatment of Gas Used by Power Plants
The gas bill costs presented in this release exclude gas purchased by power plants to generate electricity as that is not classified as final consumption. This is a substantial exclusion as power plants accounted for 61% of gas consumption in 2021. Hence the total bill cost for gas for final consumption in 2021 was €1.1 billion of which 49% was accounted for by residential customers (see Table 4B). In 2015 to 2020 the total gas bill costs for the residential sector were higher than that for the non-residential sector.
SEAI Electricity and Gas Prices
Tables 6A to 6D show the SEAI electricity and gas prices that were used in this release. These are weighted prices based on energy supplier returns made to the SEAI. The prices are classified by six-month period, by fuel, and by type of customer. The price basis used by the CSO for residential customers in this release included all taxes and levies. The price basis used by the CSO for non-residential customers excluded recoverable taxes and levies e.g., VAT. The prices were combined with actual electricity and gas consumption so trends in the bill cost reflect both prices and the amount of electricity and gas consumed.”