Irish electricity and gas prices in 2027: what is set and what is not

After a year of increases, the obvious question in Irish households is whether 2027 brings relief. In short: some parts of the bill are already decided until the autumn of 2027, others will be decided on dates we know, and the biggest part depends on a gas market nobody controls. Here is how it breaks down.

Who sets what on your bill

An Irish electricity bill has five main parts:

• Energy. What the supplier pays for wholesale electricity plus its own costs and margin. The supplier sets it and can change it with notice. This is the part moving most in 2026.
• Network charges. What ESB Networks and EirGrid are allowed to recover, set by the CRU each year for 1 October to 30 September. They make up about 30% of a typical bill according to the CRU.
• PSO levy. A flat monthly charge funding renewable and security of supply schemes, set by the CRU each summer for the year from 1 October.
• Standing charge. The supplier’s daily fixed charge, which includes part of the network costs.
• VAT. 9% on gas and electricity.

Gas works the same way, with Gas Networks Ireland’s charges and carbon tax instead of the PSO levy.

What is already decided for 2027

Network charges until September 2027. On 29 July 2026 the CRU approved charges for 1 October 2026 to 30 September 2027, worth about €41.25 a year more for a typical household, or €3.44 a month.

The five-year grid plan. In December 2025 the CRU approved Price Review 6 for 2026 to 2030: up to €18.9 billion of investment, €13.8 billion of it baseline. The CRU put the household impact at about €12 a year at baseline and about €21 a year if the higher allowance is used. It will connect 300,000 new homes, 1 million electric vehicles and 680,000 heat pumps by around 2030. For your bill this means network charges drift upwards each year rather than jump.

The PSO levy until September 2027. From 1 October 2026 it falls 66% to €0.51 a month before VAT. The 2027/28 figure will be decided next summer.

VAT at 9%. Budget 2026 kept the reduced 9% rate on gas and electricity for five more years.

No EU carbon price on heating in 2027. The EU adopted the postponement of ETS2, the new carbon market for heating fuels and road transport, from 2027 to 2028 in March 2026. National carbon tax still applies.

What is not decided

Wholesale energy. The CSO’s Wholesale Price Index showed electricity in August 2026 up 76.9% on a year earlier, though still 56% below the 2022 peak. Irish power prices follow gas, because gas plants set the price in most hours. If gas eases, supplier prices can come down in 2027; if the Middle East conflict keeps gas high through winter, they will not. No one has published a reliable forecast of Irish retail prices for 2027, and we will not invent one.

Budget 2027 on 6 October. The Irish Times reported that energy will be central. A carbon tax increase on home heating oil, already postponed in the spring, is expected to be postponed again, a lower carbon tax rate on heating oil is under consideration, and the fuel allowance is expected to rise €5 to €43 a week. The paper also said the annual carbon tax increases planned to 2030 now appear unlikely to proceed. One-off energy credits were not in Budget 2026 and are not confirmed for 2027.

How network costs are shared. On 25 September the CRU opened Phase 1 of its Electricity Network Tariff Structure Review, the first full review since 2000, with responses due by 22 October 2026. It could eventually change how much of your bill is a fixed daily charge and how much depends on usage and timing, but not before later phases.

Supplier moves. After the October 2026 increases at SSE Airtricity, Bord Gáis Energy and Energia, suppliers have not said anything about 2027 prices.

Fixed or variable?

The CRU names four kinds of fixed plan: fixed term, fixed discount, fixed rate and fixed charges. It notes that fixed term and fixed discount plans are the common ones in Ireland and that true fixed rate plans are few. That matters: a “fixed” discount of 10% off standard rates still goes up when the standard rates go up, as many customers found this autumn.

So before you sign:

• ask whether the unit rates and standing charge are fixed for the term, or only the discount;
• check the exit fee and the end date;
• compare the estimated annual bill on your own kWh, not the discount percentage.

A true fixed rate is worth more when prices are rising and wholesale markets are nervous, which is where we are in September 2026. A variable plan with a big first-year discount is worth more if you will actually switch again in 12 months.

What a household should do now

1. Read your supplier’s price-change letter and work out the new annual cost at your own usage. Our bill guide helps.
2. Compare before the new rates start. Accredited comparison sites and our partners show plans from most suppliers.
3. If you pick a fixed plan, write down the end date or set a free contract alert.
4. Look at the parts you control: night rates, insulation grants, solar. Our saving guide goes through them.
5. Check again next summer, when the CRU decides the PSO levy and network charges for October 2027.

We will update this outlook after Budget 2027 and again when the CRU publishes its 2027/28 decisions.