Published: Tuesday, April 29, 2025
PRESS RELEASE: Annual Review 2025 - Electricity
Electricity suppliers must help consumers save money
The Climate Change Advisory Council has said that Government and the Regulator must ensure that electricity suppliers offer customers price plans that allow them to save money, change consumption patterns and reduce emissions. Despite legislation being in place requiring this, the Council has said that it is disappointing that the deadline for its delivery has been delayed.
Whilst the Climate Action Plan sectoral target for electricity is a 75% reduction by 2030, ETS emissions reductions are currently only at about 33%*. 2025 is the last year of the first carbon budget which means that efforts need to be intensified to increase sustainable electricity supply (wind and solar), reduce the use of coal for electricity generation and manage the amount of imported electricity.
Citing the damage caused by Storms Darragh and Éowyn which highlighted the vulnerability of the electricity network, the Council has said significant investment and political support at national, regional and local level is required for upgrading the electricity grid particularly those essential projects necessary to strengthen it and its capacity to carry renewable electricity.
The Council has called for the accelerated roll out of renewable energy to enable Ireland to transition away from its reliance on fossil fuels. To support this and avoid the loss of existing wind farms (the permitted use of a fifth of Ireland’s onshore wind farms are set to end by 2030), it has said that planners should adopt a constructive approach to the renewal of the existing wind fleet. In addition, industry needs to expedite the construction of the 2 GW of onshore wind projects which have already received planning permission.
Commenting on the launch of the review of the electricity sector, Marie Donnelly, Chair of the Climate Change Advisory Council, said, “Despite the installation of almost 2 million smart meters, people, households and businesses cannot easily access data on the consumption of their electricity to avail of better tariffs.”
“Electricity suppliers must provide new tariffs, as set out in legislation, which is vital to both altering consumption patterns and shifting electricity usage away from peak times and saving people, households and businesses money. It is for these reasons that we are calling on the CRU to reconsider its decision to extend the deadline for electricity suppliers to offer these new tariffs.”
The continued reliance on harmful imported fossil fuels for electricity generation means Ireland’s electricity is more carbon intensive than many other EU members. The rate of renewable electricity capacity development has been far below what is required, and the Council has said significant action is needed to expedite the deployment of renewables at pace.
Commenting on the need to invest in grid infrastructure and support the uptake of renewable electricity Marie Donnelly added, “We have seen how vulnerable the grid has been to extreme weather events, and this provides us with a snapshot into what we can expect in the future. It is vital that there is a significantly strengthened grid, with further capital investments made to ensure that the electricity network can support the transition away from fossil fuels to more renewable electricity.”
The Council’s Annual Review of the electricity sector can be read here Annual Review 2025 - Electricity
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