Electricity & Gas Prices in Ireland

34 ENERGY POLICY STATISTICAL SUPPORT UNIT
4.1.2 Business Electricity Prices in Consumption Band IC
Figure 17 shows the trend in electricity prices in consumption band IC for Ireland, EU and the Euro Area. For reference,
band IC, which is the consumption band normally reported on by Eurostat, accounted for 15.8% of the electricity
use in the business market in Ireland in this semester (see Table 26).
The price of electricity to Irish business fell throughout 2009 and into the first half of 2010. Prices in this band
increased until the second semester of 2012 (S2 2012), when they were 24% higher compared with the first semester
of 2010 (S1 2010). Since then the price has generally fallen with the exception of the first semester of 2015.
Figure 17 Business Electricity Prices (ex-VAT) in Band IC (2 nd semester 2007 to 2 nd semester 2015)
25
20
15
c/kWh
10
5
4 Energy Prices for Business
0
Source: Eurostat
2007S2 2008S2 2009S2 2010S2 2011S2 2012S2 2013S2 2014S2 2015S2
EU-28 Range Ireland Euro Area EU-28
Table 24 shows the ex-VAT electricity prices in band IC (500 – 2000 MWh per annum) for the five semesters between
the second half of 2013 and the second half of 2015 for all countries in the EU. Also shown is the price change for
each country between each subsequent semester and for the most recent 12 months for which data is available.
Price changes in S2 2015 ranged from a 13% increase in Bulgaria to a 14% price decrease in Turkey. Ireland
experienced a 4.2% decrease in the semester. The EU as a whole experienced a 1.6% decrease in the second half of
2015 and the Euro Area a 2.1% decrease.
Over the 12-month period S2 2014 – S2 2015 price changes varied from a 14% increase in the UK to a 26% decrease
in the Cyprus. The price in this band remained the same in Ireland over the 12-month period. This compares with a
1.3% decrease experienced in the EU and a 3.1% decrease in the Euro Area.
Ireland’s ranking for its price of electricity in this business consumption band (see Table 27) in the second half of 2015
moved to sixth most expensive.
Note that the percentage price change shown in Table 24 is calculated from the published Eurostat euro values for
each country. Percentage price changes in national currencies may differ considerably from these as significant
moves in the currency exchange rate with the euro may distort price changes. Percentage changes in national
currencies are shown in Figure 18.
Tables for all electricity consumption bands are published in a separate annex which is available at
www.seai.ie/statistics.