Prices and costs for residential electricity and gas are inclusive of all taxes and levies. This includes a reduction in VAT from 13.5% to 9% from May 2022, and subsidies for residential electricity under the Electricity Costs Emergency Benefit Scheme (€400 in 2022 and €550 in 2023). Residential properties with very low energy consumption levels have been excluded from the analysis. See the Editor's Note and Background Notes for more information.
This release combines metered electricity and gas consumption with residential and non-residential electricity and gas final consumption prices, from 2015 to 2023.
The CSO obtained access to the meter microdata for statistical purposes only under the Statistics Act, 1993. The prices data were collected by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) under Regulation (EU) 2016/1952. Weighted average prices are available on the Eurostat website.
The consumption data were received from the ESB Networks. It includes all connections to the mains electricity network. For this release, the CSO has excluded meters relating to public lighting and connections that are not metered. The data received by the CSO were classified by tariff category (DUoS). Large energy users (a combination of DUoS groups DG8, DG9, DG10 and TCON) were excluded from the analysis due to uncertainty over representativeness in price data.
The consumption data were received from Gas Networks Ireland. It includes all connections to the mains gas network. For this release, the CSO excluded meters relating to power plants and large CHP plants.
Power plants and large CHP plants have been excluded from the gas consumption file. Electricity meters with a consumption below 50 kilowatt-hours in a semester (January to June and July to December) have been excluded. Large energy users (a combination of DUoS tariff groups DG8, DG9, DG10 and TCON), public lighting and connections that are not metered have been excluded from the electricity file.
Residential customers in the electricity meter data are defined as tariff groups DG1 and DG2. However, these tariff groups include some non-residential customers such as farmers, small grocery shops, etc. In the gas meter data, residential customers were defined by Gas Networks Ireland. Some small non-domestic activity such as creches, residential homes, embassies, etc. are included as residential.
The residential and non-residential electricity and gas prices are collected by SEAI from energy suppliers and reported to Eurostat. The prices used in this release relate to final consumption. The prices include all charges payable including network charges, meter rental, and standing charges. For residential customers, prices for 2022 account for two rebate payments of €200 administered by electricity suppliers. The prices for 2023 include two rebate payments of €200 and one of €150. The two payments of €200 were made between January and February 2023 and between March and April 2023. The third payment of €150 was made in December 2023. This included pay as you go customers.
SEAI calculated national weighted prices for each consumption band for each six-month period and reported them to Eurostat. For more information on these price data, consult the SEAI website.
A gigajoule (GJ) was defined as 277.8 kilowatt hours.
Weighted average prices are reported twice a year to Eurostat by SEAI.
Three types of prices are reported:
The Level 1 price includes only the energy and supply component and the network component.
The level 2 price includes the energy and supply component, the network component and taxes, fees, levies and charges considered as non-recoverable for final non-household customers. For household customers, the level 2 price level includes the energy and supply component, the network component and taxes, fees, levies, and charges but excludes VAT.
The level 3 price includes the energy and supply component, the network component, and all recoverable and non-recoverable taxes, fees, levies, charges (including VAT) and allowances, including rebate payments.
For estimating household bill costs, the CSO used the level 3 price which includes all taxes and levies including VAT. Level 2 prices were used by the CSO for non-household consumption.
The consumption band in the prices data was used to combine the meter and prices files. The consumption for each meter was aggregated to a six-month period and classified to the appropriate consumption band in the prices files. The prices were then added to the meter datasets at meter level. Bill costs were calculated at meter level by multiplying the kilowatt-hours consumption figure by the appropriate weighted average national price.
The figures are subject to revision.
This release will be published on an annual basis.
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