The wholesale “Energy cost” is only 55% of the total market cost. The rest of your bill is made up of fixed costs to run the system – most of which are outside of your supplier’s control:
- Distribution Costs (14%)
- Transmission Costs (15%)
- Imperfection Costs (7%)
- Capacity Costs (6%)
- Public Service Obligation (PSO) (3%)
These charges cover everything from the wires that bring power to your home to the supports for renewable energy and ensuring supply can always meet demand. These charges have increased significantly due to temporary emergency generation, which was driven by increased electricity demand from an expanding economy post-Covid and electrification.
Capacity charges have increased due to the need to build new power stations and to refurb others. This is all work that is tendered on international markets and which has seen significant increases globally.
Imperfections charges are increasing significantly post energy crisis due to things like not having the North-South Interconnector and EirGrid having to operate the system with a certain number of thermal plants on, which requires the turning down of wind and the turning on of expensive gas pants. Your final bill also includes supplier costs and VAT.