Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

187. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the way in which the cost of producing electricity here compares with other countries throughout Europe with particular reference to maintaining competitiveness throughout industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25549/20]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Programme for Government commits to providing the reliable supply of safe, secure and clean energy in order to deliver a phase-out of fossil fuels. This means Ireland must deliver on its commitment to reach 70% renewable electricity by 2030 and that this must be planned and delivered in a cost-effective way that minimises costs to consumers.The Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland’s  (SEAI) report on Electricity and Gas Prices in Ireland (July – December) 2019 sets out the breakdown of electricity prices based on energy & supply, network costs, renewable taxes, capacity taxes, environmental taxes and other costs. Section 4.1.6 on page 40 of the report provides a breakdown of costs to non-households (business).  Table 28 shows the breakdown of these costs for all EU member states in terms of cent per kilowatt hour. The report is available online at .

The SEAI, in their Energy in Ireland – 2019 report (Table 23, Page 58), show that electricity prices to Irish industry fell by 5% in real terms between 2015 and 2018. The fuel mix for electricity generation is one factor that has a key bearing on the variation in the price of electricity. In the EU, Ireland has a high overall dependency for electricity generation on fossil fuels, at 70%.

Since 2015, energy prices in Ireland have increased by 2.5% in real terms, compared with an average increase of 0.6% in OECD Europe  member countries, and a 7.9% increase in the United States over the same period based on data from the  International Energy Agency (IEA). In 2018, overall energy prices in Ireland were 2% higher than in 2017, compared with an increase of 4% in OECD Europe and a 7% increase in the U.S.