Best energy in Ireland

This is our flagship energy ranking: all nine Irish household suppliers, ordered by overall editorial score — year-1 value, what happens in year 2, billing, service, contract flexibility and how honestly the green claims are evidenced. Every euro figure on this page is an Estimated Annual Bill (EAB) at CRU typical usage — 4,200 kWh of electricity, 11,000 kWh of gas — checked on each supplier’s own site this week. Where we could not verify a figure, you’ll see a dash, never a guess.

One thing before the cards: a 12-month percentage off is not a cheap supplier. Almost every bill-pay brand in Ireland sells a deep new-customer discount that expires at month 12, dropping you onto a standard rate that can cost €240–€537 a year more. Energia’s 30% deal, for example, runs €1,538 in year 1 and €2,075 in year 2 on the same urban 24-hour meter. That cliff — not the teaser — is what this ranking prices in.

How should you read this ranking?

Every price on this page is an Estimated Annual Bill: unit rate × CRU typical usage, plus the standing charge, plus the PSO levy on electricity (or carbon tax on gas), all including 9% VAT. It is the like-for-like yardstick the whole market uses — but only if you know what sits behind it.

• Urban vs rural matters. ESB Networks charges more to serve rural (DG2) connections, so rural standing charges are higher — typically €45–€105 a year more on the suppliers we verified. We show urban (DG1) figures by default and separate rural wherever we could verify it.
• Meter type changes the answer. A 24-hour meter, a NightSaver (day/night) meter and a smart time-of-use meter can carry three different prices at the same supplier. The table below compares each brand’s headline 24-hour bill-pay plan so no one wins on a meter technicality; the ranking cards above show each supplier’s single cheapest verified plan, which is often a smart or fixed variant.
• Electricity-only, gas-only or dual? Seven of the nine sell gas. Community Power and Pinergy are electricity-only, so gas has to live with another supplier — which is not necessarily a bad thing, because splitting fuels often beats a dual bundle.
• Your usage is not 4,200 kWh. The EAB is a comparison tool, not a quote. A low-usage apartment feels standing charges hardest; a storage-heated rural bungalow lives and dies on the unit rate. Your last bill shows your real annual kWh — compare on that.

Electricity is each brand’s headline 24-hour plan (prepay plan for the two PAYG specialists); gas is the headline gas plan — standing charges on gas do not split urban and rural. A dash means the supplier does not publish that figure and we could not verify one this week. Community Power and Prepay Power have no new-customer discount, so their year-1 and year-2 columns match. Deeper cuts of these numbers live on cheapest electricity and cheapest gas.

What does year 2 actually cost?

Here is the cliff drawn out for the five big bill-pay brands, on the same urban 24-hour meter at 4,200 kWh. The green bar is the discounted first year; the rust bar is the standard rate the plan reverts to at month 13.

Read it two ways. If you will genuinely switch again at month 12, the left ends of the green bars are your market — SSE’s 30%-off plan at €1,492, or its fixed-rate plan at €1,295 if you accept a €100 exit fee. If you know you will drift, the rust bars are your real price, and the ordering changes: Electric Ireland’s €1,868 standard rate is the least punishing of the five, and Yuno’s €1,942 standard plan carries the smallest jump — though every Yuno plan is variable and rose 9.5% mid-contract in July 2026. The full mechanics of the cliff are on year 1 vs year 2.

Which supplier wins for your situation?

“Best” depends on how you shop. Four honest answers:

• Cheapest year 1: Yuno Energy — with a caveat. Yuno’s published rate cards are the lowest in the market: €1,702 urban 24-hour electricity, €1,332 gas, €2,746 dual. The caveat is the exit door — €100 per fuel, up to €200 on dual, double the €50 most rivals quote — and rates that can rise mid-contract with notice. If you want the absolute floor and will watch it, read the Yuno review first. SSE’s fixed plan (€1,295, rates locked 12 months) is the strongest year-1 alternative for anyone burned by variable pricing.
• No year-2 cliff: Community Power. One variable rate for everyone, no teaser, no fixed term and a verified €0 exit fee — €1,684 urban this year and the same structure next year. You pay slightly more than the best teaser in year 1 and considerably less than most standard rates in year 2, and it is the only community-owned supplier in the market. Electricity only, so gas stays elsewhere — the Community Power review covers the trade-offs.
• Dual-fuel convenience: the incumbents. If one bill and one app is the goal, Electric Ireland’s 20% dual deal (€2,912 year 1) and Bord Gáis’s smart dual (€2,867 year 1, with a 5% loyalty discount that survives into year 2) are the tidy options — but check both against Yuno’s €2,746 dual card, and against simply splitting fuels via best dual fuel.
• Prepay: pay the premium knowingly. Prepay Power (€2,106 electricity, €1,783 gas) and Pinergy (€2,052 on the sign-up offer) sell budget control and no credit check, not cheap energy — the prepayment service charge alone runs €131–€164 a year. If you can pass a credit check, bill-pay is cheaper; if you can’t or want hard spend control, best prepay electricity ranks the options properly.

Still unsure? Find your energy asks five questions — meter, location, fuels, usage, payment — and points you at the one to three suppliers that actually fit.

Who raised prices in 2025 and 2026?

Discounts get the headlines; the standard and variable rates underneath them moved a lot in the last twelve months. Every dated change we verified, newest first:

Two lessons in that table. First, “variable” is doing real work: Yuno and Flogas customers saw double-digit percentage rises inside their 12-month terms, legally and with notice. Second, timing your switch matters — a discount signed the week before a standard-rate rise still inherits that rise at month 13.

What does it cost to leave each supplier?

If switching every year is the strategy, the exit fee is part of the price. All nine, as verified in each supplier’s current terms this week:

Remember the arithmetic cuts both ways: paying Energia €50 to escape a standard rate that costs €537 a year more than the best deal pays for itself in six weeks. And no fee applies inside the 14-day cooling-off window or after your fixed term ends — the switch itself is covered step-by-step in how to switch energy supplier.

Is matched.ie a CRU-accredited comparison site?

No — and we say so plainly. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities accredits four price-comparison sites for Irish energy: Bonkers, Switcher, PowerToSwitch and EnergySwitch. matched.ie is not one of them and does not offer an accredited tariff-comparison tool. What we do is rank the retailers, verify their published prices on their own sites each week, and explain the mechanics — cliffs, meters, exit fees — that a tariff table can’t. If you want a regulated comparator for a full tariff-by-tariff quote, the accredited list is on cru.ie, and our methodology is on how we test.

Keep reading

• Best energy in Ireland: the flagship supplier ranking.
• How to switch energy supplier: MPRN, GPRN, cooling-off — supply never cuts.
• Year 1 vs year 2 energy prices: the discount cliff every ranking here prices in.
• Find your energy: 30-second matcher.

About the author

Conor Ryan

Energy Switching Analyst

Conor Ryan has tracked Irish gas and electricity prices, tariffs and switching since 2019. He builds matched.ie’s energy comparison tools and tests how smart meters and time-of-use plans affect household bills.

7+ years analysing Irish energy marketsCertified in Energy Efficiency (SEAI) and Electricity SupplyFocus on SSE Airtricity, Electric Ireland, Energia and Bord GáisBased in Limerick, covers domestic and small-business tariffs