ApprovedDE, DK, IE2025households, Eurostat consumption band DC (2,500 to 4,999 kWh a year)reviewed 2026-10-14
Version 1, published 2026-10-16. Every claim on this page was proposed with AI help and approved by a person before publication; each links to a saved passage in a named source. Where the evidence does not defend a number, the page says so instead of giving one.What changed in this version
First published version.
Of the three parts of an Irish electricity bill, the biggest is the one Eurostat calls energy and supply: the cost of the electricity itself, plus what the supplier adds to it. In 2025 a typical Irish household paid about 23 cent for it on every kilowatt-hour. A German household paid about 15 cent and a Danish household under 10. The EU average was about 12.5.
Wholesale electricity is 86% of Denmark's energy and supply charge but 50% of Ireland's
The energy and supply part of the household electricity price, in cents per kWh, for a home using 2,500 to 4,999 kWh a year, split into the average wholesale price over the year and everything else in the charge. The wholesale price is the plain average of twelve monthly figures from Ember; it does not include the effect of suppliers buying ahead, so a single year is only a rough guide. Sources: Eurostat, Ember.
The numbers
Place
Year
Charge (EUR per kWh)
Wholesale share (unrounded)
Ireland
2025
0.229
0.49886826783114996
Ireland
2024
0.3001
0.3631206264578474
Germany
2025
0.1481
0.6058181408957909
Germany
2024
0.1654
0.47005239822652156
Denmark
2025
0.0964
0.8556967496542186
Denmark
2024
0.1082
0.6530961182994455
That is really two questions. Why does the electricity itself cost more in Ireland? And why is more added between the wholesale market and the bill?
The electricity itself costs more
Electricity is bought and sold wholesale before it reaches a supplier. The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) says the energy and supply charge mostly consists of that wholesale cost plus the supplier's mark-up, and it found Irish wholesale prices at the upper end of the countries it compared. By 2023 they were still 30 to 32 per cent above those in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Market data for 2025 tells the same story: the Irish average came to about €114 per megawatt-hour, against about €90 in Germany and about €83 in Denmark.
Gas is the main reason the research points to. Ireland makes close to half of its electricity from gas, and unlike many countries it did not move away from gas after the 2022 price shock: its share stayed at roughly 50 per cent from 2021 to 2023. Gas plants frequently set the wholesale price in the market Ireland shares with Northern Ireland, so a change in the cost of gas passes straight into the price of electricity.
Ireland leans on gas; Germany has no single main source; Denmark leans on wind
Share of all electricity generated in 2024, by fuel. The unshaded remainder is everything else (hydro, oil, waste and so on). Each share is one fuel's generation divided by total generation, both published by Eurostat.
The numbers (share, unrounded)
Place
Fuel
Share
Ireland
gas
0.4793452466724462
Ireland
coal and peat
0.02008757343855491
Ireland
biomass
0.016325076952866533
Ireland
solar
0.03470942779227181
Ireland
wind
0.3699135995334023
Germany
gas
0.1760416646401133
Germany
coal and peat
0.20686991862010198
Germany
biomass
0.0210171417231994
Germany
solar
0.14664918318550843
Germany
wind
0.270255968280711
Denmark
gas
0.025749302514458946
Denmark
coal and peat
0.04956911258184239
Denmark
biomass
0.16528160566389913
Denmark
solar
0.10692131833049254
Denmark
wind
0.5819435296497398
ESRI also says that tighter capacity margins may play a part, and that the cost of an insecure supply reaches customers through wholesale and capacity prices in ways the data cannot show. We can't put a figure on either.
More is added on the way to the bill
Wholesale is only part of the charge. In 2025 it came to about half of what an Irish household paid for energy and supply, about three-fifths in Germany and more than four-fifths in Denmark. The rest is on the supplier's side of the market: the mark-up, the cost of buying ahead, and anything else in the charge.
ESRI looked at this gap. In many of the markets it studied the gap was wider after 2022, but it was greatest in Ireland. It offers some possible reasons: Irish suppliers may find it harder to hedge risk and so build a larger risk premium into their prices, competition may be weaker, or countries' statistics may not be compiled in exactly the same way. It says it cannot say which of these matters, and that more research is needed.
Timing matters as well. Suppliers buy ahead, which delayed the 2022 spike for Irish households and also made high prices last longer, according to the regulator, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities. ESRI says Denmark has a much shorter lag between wholesale and retail prices. So a single year's comparison needs care: part of what an Irish household paid in 2025 reflects what its supplier paid earlier.
And it is already coming down
The Irish charge fell from about 30 cent in 2024 to about 23 cent in 2025, even though the average wholesale price was a little higher in 2025 than in 2024. That fits what the regulator describes: buying ahead delays a price rise on the way up, and delays the relief on the way down. ESRI notes that Irish wholesale prices fell 14 per cent in 2024, more slowly than the 26 per cent average fall in the eight other countries it compared.
Covers the energy and supply part of the household electricity price (the cost of the electricity itself plus the supplier's costs and margin, as Eurostat reports it) for medium consumers (2,500 to 4,999 kWh a year) in Ireland, Germany and Denmark, with the EU average for context. The baseline is calendar year 2025, with 2024 beside it.
Not covered: the other two parts of the bill (network costs, taxes and levies, which explanation 1 covers); industrial prices; how the price is split between generators, suppliers and traders inside the charge, which is not published.
Percentages marked "derived" are our own arithmetic on published figures, with the formula shown. The wholesale price is the plain average of twelve monthly figures from Ember, not Ember's own annual statistic, and it does not include the effect of hedging.
What is still open is how much of Ireland's higher charge is down to the wholesale price and how much to what is added on top, and ESRI's own view is that the answer needs more research.
How much of the gap between the wholesale price and the Irish energy and supply charge is supplier hedging, how much is weaker competition, and how much is down to how the figures are compiled? ESRI sets out these possibilities and says it cannot say which matters most.
How much do tighter capacity margins and the cost of keeping supply secure add to Irish wholesale prices? ESRI says these costs reach customers through wholesale and capacity prices and are not readily observable in the data.
How far will the Irish charge fall as suppliers' earlier purchases at higher prices work through? The 2025 fall was steep while the wholesale price barely moved.
Behind the article: the working
What you have just read is a summary of the work behind it. Below is that work: the chain of causes the article describes, each factor and link with its evidence and the disagreements about it, the data, and the sources.
The price of electricity traded between generators and suppliers, before network charges, levies and taxes; in Ireland, the all-island day-ahead market price.
Wholesale gas price (quantity, EUR/MWh)Approved
The price of natural gas on wholesale markets, which sets the fuel cost of gas-fired power stations.
Eurostat reports how much electricity is generated from each fuel. This link records biomass (primary solid biofuels) generation as a share of gross electricity production in Germany, 2024.
Size: 0.02102 share of gross electricity production (derived). Method: arithmetic on published figures. as of 2024-12-31. The fuel's gross electricity production divided by total gross electricity production, Germany, 2024, GWh. No rounding; no figure other than the two published values is used. Source: Eurostat, nrg_bal_peh.Approved
How this figure is calculated
Formula: BIOMASS / TOTAL Unrounded result: 0.0210171417231994
Eurostat reports how much electricity is generated from each fuel. This link records natural gas generation as a share of gross electricity production in Germany, 2024.
Size: 0.176 share of gross electricity production (derived). Method: arithmetic on published figures. as of 2024-12-31. The fuel's gross electricity production divided by total gross electricity production, Germany, 2024, GWh. No rounding; no figure other than the two published values is used. Source: Eurostat, nrg_bal_peh.Approved
How this figure is calculated
Formula: GAS / TOTAL Unrounded result: 0.1760416646401133
Eurostat reports how much electricity is generated from each fuel. This link records solar photovoltaic generation as a share of gross electricity production in Germany, 2024.
Size: 0.1466 share of gross electricity production (derived). Method: arithmetic on published figures. as of 2024-12-31. The fuel's gross electricity production divided by total gross electricity production, Germany, 2024, GWh. No rounding; no figure other than the two published values is used. Source: Eurostat, nrg_bal_peh.Approved
How this figure is calculated
Formula: SOLAR / TOTAL Unrounded result: 0.14664918318550843
Eurostat reports how much electricity is generated from each fuel. This link records coal, lignite and peat (solid fossil fuels) generation as a share of gross electricity production in Germany, 2024.
Size: 0.2069 share of gross electricity production (derived). Method: arithmetic on published figures. as of 2024-12-31. The fuel's gross electricity production divided by total gross electricity production, Germany, 2024, GWh. No rounding; no figure other than the two published values is used. Source: Eurostat, nrg_bal_peh.Approved
How this figure is calculated
Formula: COAL / TOTAL Unrounded result: 0.20686991862010198
The energy and supply part of the household price is mostly the wholesale cost of electricity plus the supplier's mark-up. This link records the wholesale price, averaged over the year, as a share of the energy and supply charge in Germany, 2024.
Size: 0.4701 share of the energy and supply charge (derived). Method: arithmetic on published figures. as of 2024-12-31. The average of the twelve monthly day-ahead wholesale prices for Germany in 2024 (EUR per MWh, divided by 1,000 to give EUR per kWh) divided by Eurostat's energy and supply charge for a household using 2,500 to 4,999 kWh a year (EUR per kWh). The monthly prices are load-weighted by Ember; their plain average here is our arithmetic. Wholesale prices do not include hedging, so timing differs from what households paid. No rounding. Source: Ember, European wholesale electricity prices (monthly); Eurostat, nrg_pc_204_c.Approved
The energy and supply part of the household price is mostly the wholesale cost of electricity plus the supplier's mark-up. This link records the wholesale price, averaged over the year, as a share of the energy and supply charge in Germany, 2025.
Size: 0.6058 share of the energy and supply charge (derived). Method: arithmetic on published figures. as of 2025-12-31. The average of the twelve monthly day-ahead wholesale prices for Germany in 2025 (EUR per MWh, divided by 1,000 to give EUR per kWh) divided by Eurostat's energy and supply charge for a household using 2,500 to 4,999 kWh a year (EUR per kWh). The monthly prices are load-weighted by Ember; their plain average here is our arithmetic. Wholesale prices do not include hedging, so timing differs from what households paid. No rounding. Source: Ember, European wholesale electricity prices (monthly); Eurostat, nrg_pc_204_c.Approved
Eurostat reports how much electricity is generated from each fuel. This link records wind generation as a share of gross electricity production in Germany, 2024.
Size: 0.2703 share of gross electricity production (derived). Method: arithmetic on published figures. as of 2024-12-31. The fuel's gross electricity production divided by total gross electricity production, Germany, 2024, GWh. No rounding; no figure other than the two published values is used. Source: Eurostat, nrg_bal_peh.Approved
How this figure is calculated
Formula: WIND / TOTAL Unrounded result: 0.270255968280711
Eurostat reports how much electricity is generated from each fuel. This link records biomass (primary solid biofuels) generation as a share of gross electricity production in Denmark, 2024.
Size: 0.1653 share of gross electricity production (derived). Method: arithmetic on published figures. as of 2024-12-31. The fuel's gross electricity production divided by total gross electricity production, Denmark, 2024, GWh. No rounding; no figure other than the two published values is used. Source: Eurostat, nrg_bal_peh.Approved
How this figure is calculated
Formula: BIOMASS / TOTAL Unrounded result: 0.16528160566389913
Eurostat reports how much electricity is generated from each fuel. This link records natural gas generation as a share of gross electricity production in Denmark, 2024.
Size: 0.02575 share of gross electricity production (derived). Method: arithmetic on published figures. as of 2024-12-31. The fuel's gross electricity production divided by total gross electricity production, Denmark, 2024, GWh. No rounding; no figure other than the two published values is used. Source: Eurostat, nrg_bal_peh.Approved
How this figure is calculated
Formula: GAS / TOTAL Unrounded result: 0.025749302514458946
Eurostat reports how much electricity is generated from each fuel. This link records solar photovoltaic generation as a share of gross electricity production in Denmark, 2024.
Size: 0.1069 share of gross electricity production (derived). Method: arithmetic on published figures. as of 2024-12-31. The fuel's gross electricity production divided by total gross electricity production, Denmark, 2024, GWh. No rounding; no figure other than the two published values is used. Source: Eurostat, nrg_bal_peh.Approved
How this figure is calculated
Formula: SOLAR / TOTAL Unrounded result: 0.10692131833049254
Eurostat reports how much electricity is generated from each fuel. This link records coal, lignite and peat (solid fossil fuels) generation as a share of gross electricity production in Denmark, 2024.
Size: 0.04957 share of gross electricity production (derived). Method: arithmetic on published figures. as of 2024-12-31. The fuel's gross electricity production divided by total gross electricity production, Denmark, 2024, GWh. No rounding; no figure other than the two published values is used. Source: Eurostat, nrg_bal_peh.Approved
How this figure is calculated
Formula: COAL / TOTAL Unrounded result: 0.04956911258184239
The energy and supply part of the household price is mostly the wholesale cost of electricity plus the supplier's mark-up. This link records the wholesale price, averaged over the year, as a share of the energy and supply charge in Denmark, 2024.
Size: 0.6531 share of the energy and supply charge (derived). Method: arithmetic on published figures. as of 2024-12-31. The average of the twelve monthly day-ahead wholesale prices for Denmark in 2024 (EUR per MWh, divided by 1,000 to give EUR per kWh) divided by Eurostat's energy and supply charge for a household using 2,500 to 4,999 kWh a year (EUR per kWh). The monthly prices are load-weighted by Ember; their plain average here is our arithmetic. Wholesale prices do not include hedging, so timing differs from what households paid. No rounding. Source: Ember, European wholesale electricity prices (monthly); Eurostat, nrg_pc_204_c.Approved
The energy and supply part of the household price is mostly the wholesale cost of electricity plus the supplier's mark-up. This link records the wholesale price, averaged over the year, as a share of the energy and supply charge in Denmark, 2025.
Size: 0.8557 share of the energy and supply charge (derived). Method: arithmetic on published figures. as of 2025-12-31. The average of the twelve monthly day-ahead wholesale prices for Denmark in 2025 (EUR per MWh, divided by 1,000 to give EUR per kWh) divided by Eurostat's energy and supply charge for a household using 2,500 to 4,999 kWh a year (EUR per kWh). The monthly prices are load-weighted by Ember; their plain average here is our arithmetic. Wholesale prices do not include hedging, so timing differs from what households paid. No rounding. Source: Ember, European wholesale electricity prices (monthly); Eurostat, nrg_pc_204_c.Approved
Eurostat reports how much electricity is generated from each fuel. This link records wind generation as a share of gross electricity production in Denmark, 2024.
Size: 0.5819 share of gross electricity production (derived). Method: arithmetic on published figures. as of 2024-12-31. The fuel's gross electricity production divided by total gross electricity production, Denmark, 2024, GWh. No rounding; no figure other than the two published values is used. Source: Eurostat, nrg_bal_peh.Approved
How this figure is calculated
Formula: WIND / TOTAL Unrounded result: 0.5819435296497398
Eurostat reports how much electricity is generated from each fuel. This link records biomass (primary solid biofuels) generation as a share of gross electricity production in Ireland, 2024.
Size: 0.01633 share of gross electricity production (derived). Method: arithmetic on published figures. as of 2024-12-31. The fuel's gross electricity production divided by total gross electricity production, Ireland, 2024, GWh. No rounding; no figure other than the two published values is used. Source: Eurostat, nrg_bal_peh.Approved
How this figure is calculated
Formula: BIOMASS / TOTAL Unrounded result: 0.016325076952866533
Eurostat reports how much electricity is generated from each fuel. This link records natural gas generation as a share of gross electricity production in Ireland, 2024.
Size: 0.4793 share of gross electricity production (derived). Method: arithmetic on published figures. as of 2024-12-31. The fuel's gross electricity production divided by total gross electricity production, Ireland, 2024, GWh. No rounding; no figure other than the two published values is used. Source: Eurostat, nrg_bal_peh.Approved
How this figure is calculated
Formula: GAS / TOTAL Unrounded result: 0.4793452466724462
Ireland generates close to half of its electricity from gas and did not move away from it after 2022. Because gas plants frequently set the wholesale price, the more of the system runs on gas the more the wholesale price follows the gas price.
Typical lag: No fixed lag; the wholesale price follows the gas price month to month.
Size: large. ESRI finds Ireland's gas share the highest or near-highest of the countries it compared and unchanged at about 50 per cent while others cut back; the regulator and University College Cork tie Irish wholesale prices closely to gas prices. ESRI words its own conclusion carefully (gas 'may be' an important factor).Approved
Because Ireland generates a large share of its electricity from gas, changes in the international price of gas on wholesale markets may be an important factor behind higher electricity prices.
Ireland, by contrast, did not demonstrate a shift away from gas generation in the period 2021–2023. Ireland’s share of natural gas in the electricity fuel mix stayed at roughly 50 per cent throughout this period.
Eurostat reports how much electricity is generated from each fuel. This link records solar photovoltaic generation as a share of gross electricity production in Ireland, 2024.
Size: 0.03471 share of gross electricity production (derived). Method: arithmetic on published figures. as of 2024-12-31. The fuel's gross electricity production divided by total gross electricity production, Ireland, 2024, GWh. No rounding; no figure other than the two published values is used. Source: Eurostat, nrg_bal_peh.Approved
How this figure is calculated
Formula: SOLAR / TOTAL Unrounded result: 0.03470942779227181
Eurostat reports how much electricity is generated from each fuel. This link records coal, lignite and peat (solid fossil fuels) generation as a share of gross electricity production in Ireland, 2024.
Size: 0.02009 share of gross electricity production (derived). Method: arithmetic on published figures. as of 2024-12-31. The fuel's gross electricity production divided by total gross electricity production, Ireland, 2024, GWh. No rounding; no figure other than the two published values is used. Source: Eurostat, nrg_bal_peh.Approved
How this figure is calculated
Formula: COAL / TOTAL Unrounded result: 0.02008757343855491
The energy and supply part of the household price is mostly the wholesale cost of electricity plus the supplier's mark-up. This link records the wholesale price, averaged over the year, as a share of the energy and supply charge in Ireland, 2024.
Size: 0.3631 share of the energy and supply charge (derived). Method: arithmetic on published figures. as of 2024-12-31. The average of the twelve monthly day-ahead wholesale prices for Ireland in 2024 (EUR per MWh, divided by 1,000 to give EUR per kWh) divided by Eurostat's energy and supply charge for a household using 2,500 to 4,999 kWh a year (EUR per kWh). The monthly prices are load-weighted by Ember; their plain average here is our arithmetic. Wholesale prices do not include hedging, so timing differs from what households paid. No rounding. Source: Ember, European wholesale electricity prices (monthly); Eurostat, nrg_pc_204_c.Approved
The energy and supply part of the household price is mostly the wholesale cost of electricity plus the supplier's mark-up. This link records the wholesale price, averaged over the year, as a share of the energy and supply charge in Ireland, 2025.
Size: 0.4989 share of the energy and supply charge (derived). Method: arithmetic on published figures. as of 2025-12-31. The average of the twelve monthly day-ahead wholesale prices for Ireland in 2025 (EUR per MWh, divided by 1,000 to give EUR per kWh) divided by Eurostat's energy and supply charge for a household using 2,500 to 4,999 kWh a year (EUR per kWh). The monthly prices are load-weighted by Ember; their plain average here is our arithmetic. Wholesale prices do not include hedging, so timing differs from what households paid. No rounding. Source: Ember, European wholesale electricity prices (monthly); Eurostat, nrg_pc_204_c.Approved
Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) (research body, IE)
accepts the linkexistence (fact)
ESRI finds the margin between wholesale energy and supply costs and retail prices greater in many markets after 2022, and greatest in Ireland. It suggests harder hedging, weaker competition and differences in how statistics are compiled as possible reasons, and says further research is needed to know which matter.
Their publication: Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), section 4.1.4, PDF p.37 (report p.24)as of 2026-04-14Approved
Wind electricity generation → Gross electricity production
Eurostat reports how much electricity is generated from each fuel. This link records wind generation as a share of gross electricity production in Ireland, 2024.
Size: 0.3699 share of gross electricity production (derived). Method: arithmetic on published figures. as of 2024-12-31. The fuel's gross electricity production divided by total gross electricity production, Ireland, 2024, GWh. No rounding; no figure other than the two published values is used. Source: Eurostat, nrg_bal_peh.Approved
How this figure is calculated
Formula: WIND / TOTAL Unrounded result: 0.3699135995334023
Wholesale electricity costs feed into the energy and supply part of the household price, but with a delay, because suppliers buy ahead through hedging contracts.
Size: large. ESRI finds retail prices correlated strongly with generation and supply costs over 2018 to 2024; the regulator says hedging delays and prolongs the pass-through.Approved
The hedging strategies employed by suppliers in Ireland delayed, and lessened, the impact on retail energy customers of the highest spikes seen in wholesale electricity and gas prices in 2022 but has also meant that the elevated retail prices have been more prolonged
The report highlights a clear time lag between when changes in wholesale gas prices happen and when those changes reach retail prices which customers are charged.
Gas-fired plants frequently set the wholesale price in the all-island electricity market, so changes in the cost of gas pass directly into the wholesale electricity price.
Size: large. The market regulator says gas costs translate directly into electricity prices; UCC finds Irish wholesale prices strongly correlated with gas prices month to month.Approved
As gas fired plant frequently sets the marginal price in the SEM, fluctuations in wholesale gas costs translate directly into electricity prices, influencing the costs ultimately borne by suppliers and consumers.
When wind output is high, day-ahead wholesale prices in the all-island market tend to be lower; when wind is low they tend to be higher. Wind is not the only factor.
Size: moderate. The regulator says day-ahead prices are strongly affected by forecast wind and that high-wind periods typically bring lower prices, though wind is not the only factor; Wind Energy Ireland, an industry body, separately reports high-wind days about a third cheaper than days relying on imported gas (a stakeholder figure, not used for the size).Approved
DAM prices are strongly affected by forecast wind generation levels. Periods of high wind typically correlate with lower prices, whereas reduced wind availability often results in higher prices, although wind generation isn’t the only contributing factor.
Eurostat: Electricity and derived heat production by type of fuel (nrg_bal_peh) Reuse terms: Eurostat copyright notice, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/help/copyright-notice (retrieved 2026-10-09, sha256 3da2e8a08847bf869561ca6b239f9e15ac4ab41b6465b2fb62959a785018879d); read the notice for the terms of reuse, which are not restated here
Eurostat: Electricity prices for household consumers - bi-annual data (nrg_pc_204) Reuse terms: Eurostat copyright notice, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/help/copyright-notice (retrieved 2026-10-09, sha256 3da2e8a08847bf869561ca6b239f9e15ac4ab41b6465b2fb62959a785018879d); read the notice for the terms of reuse, which are not restated here
Eurostat: Energy imports dependency (nrg_ind_id) Reuse terms: Eurostat copyright notice, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/help/copyright-notice (retrieved 2026-10-09, sha256 3da2e8a08847bf869561ca6b239f9e15ac4ab41b6465b2fb62959a785018879d); read the notice for the terms of reuse, which are not restated here
Gas Networks Ireland: Winter Outlook 2024 (winter 2024/25) Reuse terms: Publisher website terms apply; link and short extract only, no licence assumed (retrieved 2026-10-12, sha256 61196294e394ecef72b6a06161259cbf9b7d9d1c5ccd9d4b311b81ac31aa92b3)