Environment, Climate and Communications | Addressing costs and competitiveness of producing electricity

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the way in which the cost of producing electricity here currently compares with other countries throughout Europe, with particular reference to maintaining competitiveness throughout industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. – Bernard J. Durkan.

For WRITTEN answer on Thursday, 15th December, 2022.

(682  Received on 12th December, 2022.)

REPLY

The Programme for Government commits to providing the reliable supply of safe, secure and clean energy in order to deliver a phase-out of fossil fuels. This means Ireland must deliver on its commitment to reach up to 80% renewable electricity by 2030 and that this must be planned and delivered in a cost-effective way that minimises costs to consumers.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), in its Energy in Ireland 2022 report, available at https://www.seai.ie/publications/Energy-in-Ireland-2022.pdf, shows that electricity prices to Irish industry has seen a steep increase since Q1 2021. The fuel mix for electricity generation is one factor that has a key bearing on the variation in the price of electricity. Ireland has a high dependency on gas generation, at 49% in 2021, which has had a significant impact on electricity prices over the last year.

The SEAI report on Electricity and Gas Prices in Ireland (Jan – June) 2022 sets out the breakdown of electricity prices based on energy & supply, network costs, renewable taxes, capacity taxes, environmental taxes and other costs. The weighted average household electricity price is 26.5c/kwh with the weighted average business electricity price being 22c/kwh. The report is available online at https://www.seai.ie/publications/SEAIs-EPR-data-for-Jan-to-June-2022.pdf

Eurostat places Ireland 21st for Electricity prices for Irish household consumers only marginally above the EU average of 25c/kwh in the first half of the year. For businesses, Eurostat places Ireland 23rd in the Euro area, above the EU average of 16c/kwh in the first half of the year.

Increasing Ireland’s level of renewables will help to reduce the impact of high gas supply costs on our electricity prices over the coming years.