Households paid the lowest amount for electricity in seven years in 2022

The 2022 figure is considerably higher than the average bill across the State in 2015, which was €746 and the average State bill in 2021, which was €740. File photo

Residential households last year paid the lowest amount for their electricity in more than seven years.

That is according to the Central Statistics Office's Trends in Metered Electricity and Gas Bills 2022. It says that after taking emergency benefit payments into account, the average bill was €909, compared to €1,268 in 2021, which was 14.1% higher than the year before.

Average bills haven’t been as low as the €900s since at least before 2015. Then, the average bill was €1,095 for the State with bills ranging between €965 in Co Donegal and €1,197 in Co Kildare.

Those bills shot up by 2021, with €1,400 for Co Kildare—still the highest then—and €1,066 in Co Donegal. Average residential gas bills in 2022 were €972, up from €740 in 2021.

The figure is considerably higher than the average bill across the State in 2015, which was €746 and the average State bill in 2021, which was €740.

The latest stats also say that 79% of residential electricity customers paid less than €1,500 in 2022 while 79% of residential gas customers paid less than €1,500.

Despite the bills in 2022 being the lowest for years, thousands of households are in arrears on their energy bills, with the number of accounts falling behind rising 10% in just three months.

The CSO said: “Government subsidies were introduced in 2022 as a response to a substantial increase in electricity prices. Residential electricity customers received two payments of €200 each to offset their 2022 electricity bill costs.

“These payments were administered directly by electricity suppliers as part of the billing process. They have been included in the residential electricity prices used in this release. There were no similar government subsidies for residential gas.”

Median residential electricity bills decreased by €359 in 2022https://t.co/e53457C2Gu#CSOIreland #Ireland #Environment #Buildings #EnergyRatings #Energy #EnvironmentalSubsidies #EnvironmentalAccounts #NetworkedGas #GasConsumption #Climate pic.twitter.com/ZSL9NGCXZA

— Central Statistics Office Ireland (@CSOIreland) December 4, 2023

According to the energy regulator CRU there were 240,791 households in arrears on their electricity bills in May, which was up from 211,855 in February. Similarly, the number of households in gas arrears rose from 152,276 in February to 165,206 in May.

An additional 23,453 domestic electricity and 1,137 domestic gas customers fell into arrears between April and May alone. This means there were 400,000 energy accounts in arrears across the country at the end of May, as the Government's electricity credits were coming to an end.

Added to that, it was reported earlier this year that people could be waiting up to two years before they see a significant drop in energy costs. 

This is despite the fact that wholesale energy costs, which drive retail prices higher, fell rapidly in the summer following a mild winter and increasing levels of storage.