Ireland has most expensive electricity prices in Europe

Ireland has the highest household electricity prices in the European Union, latest figures from Eurostat show.

According to the figures from the EU's statistical agency - which cover the second half of last year - electricity in Ireland cost 40.42 cent per kilowatt-hour (including VAT and levies), which was nearly 40% above the EU average of 28.96 cent.

As a result, the average household in Ireland is paying around €480 a year more for its electricity compared to the EU average.

The figures show Irish electricity prices jumped by 32.7% between July and December 2025, when compared with the same period in 2024.

After Ireland, Germany (38.69 cent per kilowatt-hour) and Belgium (34.99 cent per kilowatt-hour) had the next highest prices.

Hungary had the cheapest electricity prices in the EU (10.82 cent per kilowatt-hour).

The figures come after PrepayPower last week became the first energy provider here to hike its prices since the Iran war started.

The company is to increase its electricity prices by 8.8% and its gas prices by 10.6% for customers from the beginning of next month, with increases from other energy providers also expected.

Commenting on the Eurostat figures, Daragh Cassidy from comparison site bonkers.ie, said the reasons we pay so much more are complex.

"We've a relatively small and dispersed population with a lot of one-off housing, so the costs for the upkeep of our electricity network are very high on a per capita basis," Mr Cassidy said.

"The rapid growth of the population and the increase in the number of data centres operating here in recent years also hasn't helped. This is putting pressure on the grid. And in recent years we've had to procure high-cost, emergency gas generation to plug the gap between electricity demand and supply," he added.

Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan pointed to network costs "driving the increases in bills, and we know that data centres are driving the need for grid upgrades".

"Meanwhile, households pay ten times as much as data centres for those grid upgrades," she noted.

"Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are hell bent on giving data centres whatever they want even if that means driving up the cost of electricity for households," Ms Boylan said.