There has been a rise in the number of households in Ireland falling into electricity arrears.
A report from the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities shows that the number of households falling into arrears on their electricity bills jumped by 22,146 in the three months to December 2025 when compared to the last quarter.
A total of 319,459 domestic energy accounts missed payments. This means 14 per cent of electricity customers ended up in arrears.
191,525 households were more than 90 days behind on payments – a jump of 4,218.
It comes as recent figures from the Central Statistics Office showed that wholesale electricity prices increased by 17.1 per cent in January compared with December.
Ireland has some of the highest electricity prices in Europe – with Irish households are forced to spend around €360 more per year on their energy than the western EU average according to recent figures.
Research from the Nevin Economic Research Institute from earlier this month showed that power prices have undergone a “massive divergence” from other consumer costs over the last decade.
The think tank has highlighted Ireland as a significant “cost growth outlier” within the 15 mainly western EU states that were members of the bloc prior to its expansion in 2004.
Electricity prices in Ireland are double what they were four years ago, before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. As of September 2025, electricity prices in Ireland were over four times higher than they were in January 1996.
CRU figures show that the average outstanding amount is €192, with close to 150,000 domestic gas accounts being more than 90 days in arrears.
It comes after Eurostat figures published this week showed that Irish households are paying twice as much for electricity as data centres.
In response to the figures, Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris said today that help is on the way for those in arrears.
“We are taking measures to support people who are at risk of fuel poverty,” Mr Harris insisted,” he claimed.
“There are about 50,000 more households who will benefit next month from a decision that we took to expand the fuel allowance. Not only will 50,000 more households who receive the working family payment qualify for the fuel allowance in March, most importantly that will be back-dated until January to those 50,000 households.
“I want to say that assistance is on the way.”