Wholesale electricity prices up more than a fifth in May

In the 12 months to May the cost of food products, beverages, and tobacco was down 5.7%

Electricity prices are still over 70% lower than their peak in August 2022. 

Wholesale electricity prices increased by over 20% in May compared to the previous month as the producer prices for food products dropped slightly, new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows.

According to the wholesale price index, electricity prices in May increased by 21.7% compared to April and are now 2.4% higher when compared to May in 2023. While electricity prices have gone up, they are down over 70% when compared with the peak that occurred in August 2022.

While the cost of electricity may have increased month-on-month, the wholesale prices of other fuels has declined. Petrol prices have declined nearly 4% while diesel has fallen over 6%.

In terms of food products, producer prices dropped by 6.5% in the 12 months to May while cost of food products, beverages, and tobacco was down 5.7%. However, beverage prices on their own increased by 7.2%.

Fish and other fish products saw the largest increase across all of the different food categories — up 6.9% when compared to last year. 

There were minimal price differences across many of the categories aside from dairy products, which dropped 15.4%, and grain milling, starches, and animal feeds which dropped 6%.

In relation to manufactured goods, producer prices for manufactured goods were on average 1.4% year-on-year while producer prices for exported goods were up by 1.1%.

The most notable changes in other producer prices in the year to May were seen in chemicals and chemical products, up 23.4%, mining and quarrying, up 5.3%, and wood and wood products which were down 7%.

Wholesale prices for construction products were up by 0.3% compared to April but were down by 0.3% in the 12 months since May 2023.

The materials index for construction products fell slightly, by 0.3%, compared to the same period last year while the building and construction index, which includes the cost of materials and wages, was up 0.7% year-on-year.