The two brands are more alike than either’s marketing admits. Both are big bill-pay suppliers with no prepay option, selling electricity, gas and dual fuel on 12-month contracts with a €50-per-fuel exit fee. Both front-load a deep discount onto a variable standard rate, and both raised that rate in October 2025 — Energia by 10.9% (12.1% on smart plans) from 9 October, SSE Airtricity by 9.5% from 20 October, its second rise of the year. And both wear a 100%-green badge earned the same way: Guarantee of Origin certificate matching on the one shared grid.
So this page lines up the published Estimated Annual Bills at CRU typical usage (4,200 kWh electricity, 11,000 kWh gas, urban, year 1 and year 2), the contract terms and the billing evidence — and calls each round on those numbers alone. matched.ie is not a CRU-accredited comparison site (the accredited list is on cru.ie). The full field is at best energy for Ireland.
Quick comparison
Side by side from published August 2026 prices and contract terms. Green highlights the better figure on each measurable row.
| Energia | SSE Airtricity | |
|---|---|---|
| Our score | 7.3 | 7.1 |
| Elec year 1 (EAB) | €1,382 | €1,295 |
| Elec year 2 (EAB) | €1,789 | €2,010 |
| Gas year 1 (EAB) | €1,394 | €1,166 |
| Gas year 2 (EAB) | €1,518 | €1,542 |
| Fuels | Electricity + Gas | Electricity + Gas |
| Dual fuel | Yes | Yes |
| Prepay option | No | No |
| Exit fees | €50 per fuel if you cancel after the 14-day cooling-off and before the fixed term ends (clause 13.4 of Energia’s domestic T&Cs) — €100 on dual fuel. Nothing to pay at contract end. | €50 per fuel on the standard discount plans and €100 per fuel on the fixed-rate plans (both per the current T&Cs, checked 28 Aug 2026). Dual fuel means two fees. No charge inside the cooling-off window. |
Year-1 price: SSE’s sheets are cheaper on almost every line
Start with the like-for-like row: standard 24-hour electricity, urban, year 1. SSE Airtricity’s published EAB is €1,492 on its 30%-off sign-up plan; Energia’s is €1,538 on its 30%-off equivalent — both suppliers’ own figures, checked 28 August 2026. A €46 gap is real but small. What cannot be argued away is gas: SSE discounts gas units by 30% for a €1,166 year-1 EAB at 11,000 kWh, while Energia offers only 10% off for €1,394. That is a €228 gap on the same fuel through the same pipe — the most decisive number on this page.
| Year-1 EAB (urban, CRU typical usage) | SSE Airtricity | Energia |
|---|---|---|
| Standard 24h electricity (30% off both) | €1,492 | €1,538 |
| Cheapest published electricity plan | €1,295 (fixed, €100 exit) | €1,382 (Smart Data) |
| Gas (30% off vs 10% off) | €1,166 | €1,394 |
| Dual fuel (published combined figure) | €2,571.89 (35% + 30%) | — not published |
Two footnotes matter. First, SSE’s cheapest electricity number is not the discount plan at all: its 12-month fixed plan comes in at €1,294.70 urban with units and standing charge locked — but the exit fee doubles to €100 per fuel, so the lock cuts both ways. Second, Energia’s cheapest published figure, Smart Data at €1,382, needs a smart meter and discipline about the 17:00–19:00 peak (16.21c night / 29.49c day / 33.12c peak). On dual fuel, Energia advertises a 26% bundle discount but publishes no combined EAB, so we print a dash rather than a guess — SSE’s €2,571.89 is the only verifiable dual figure between them. More combinations on the dual-fuel ranking.
Month 13: two cliffs about €5 a month apart
Both discounts are 12-month loans of a good price. At month 13 the SSE home rolls from €1,492 to roughly €2,010 at the 41.13c standard rate — a cliff of about €518 — and the Energia home from €1,538 to roughly €2,075 at 42.65c, a cliff of about €537. (Year-2 figures are computed by us from published standard rates; year-1 figures are the suppliers’ own.) Neither re-discounts a loyal customer automatically, and neither standard rate is stable: SSE raised it twice in 2025, Energia once, steeply.
Gas flips the result, for an honest reason: Energia’s shallow 10% discount means a shallow cliff — €1,394 becomes about €1,518, a €124 step — while SSE’s 30% discount unwinds from €1,166 to about €1,542, a €375 jump that lands above Energia, helped by Energia’s lower standard gas rate (11.26c vs 11.38c) and standing charge. So year 2 reads: SSE lower on electricity by €65, Energia lower on gas by €24, both roughly €500 dearer than any switcher needs to pay. The real winner of this round is your calendar — the mechanics are in year 1 vs year 2.
Billing and service: the whole 0.2-point gap lives here
Strip out price and the two are rated identically by us on value (7.5 each), year-2 behaviour (6 each), flexibility (7 each) and green evidence (6.5 each). The entire 7.3-vs-7.1 gap comes from two rows: billing (Energia 7.5, SSE 7) and service (Energia 7, SSE 6.5). Energia customers report a solid app and broadly decent day-to-day service — Trustpilot sits around four stars — with the familiar big-supplier gripes about billing surprises and price-change notice. SSE offers phone and webchat support at real scale (about 460,000 electricity customers in the Republic, per RTÉ’s September 2025 reporting), but customers report slow complaint resolution in some cases, and that costs it the service score.
One structural point applies to both: each brand’s discount is a percentage off its own variable standard rate, so when the base rate rose in October 2025, discounted customers’ bills rose mid-contract with it — at both suppliers. Neither offers prepay or pay-as-you-go (see prepay vs bill pay). If smart-meter data matters, Energia’s menu — flat-rate Smart 24 Hour at €1,464, three-band Smart Data at €1,382, and the Smart Track dynamic tariff — gives its app more to actually do; SSE publishes one 30%-off smart plan (€1,408.91 year 1) but no standard-rate smart EAB, so its smart year-2 figure stays a dash in our table.
Contracts: identical €50 exits — and one plan that cannot be repriced
The standard terms are near-photocopies: 12-month contracts, a €50-per-fuel exit fee after the cooling-off (14 days, 30 for doorstep sign-ups), €100 in total to break a dual-fuel deal, and nothing to pay once the 12 months are up. At these levels, escaping mid-contract is affordable arithmetic — €50 is less than one month of either supplier’s year-2 standard rate. The switch takes 2–4 weeks, the new supplier does the work, and supply never cuts: how to switch energy.
The one genuine contractual difference is SSE’s fixed-rate plan: unit rate and standing charge locked for 12 months — the only contract in this matchup a price announcement cannot touch, which stopped being theoretical the moment both suppliers repriced variable customers in October 2025. The lock costs two things: a €100-per-fuel termination charge, and the same €2,010-class standard rate waiting at month 13. Energia sells no fixed plan at all — every Energia discount rides on a variable base rate.
The trap on this page: a 30% discount is not a price — it is a percentage off a variable rate that both of these suppliers raised in October 2025. Your “discounted” bill can rise mid-contract while the exit fee still applies (€50 per fuel, €100 total on dual fuel, €100 per fuel on SSE’s fixed plan). If you want a number that cannot move for 12 months, only SSE’s fixed plan provides it — and only until month 13.
Two 100%-green badges, one grid, the same paperwork
Here one honest paragraph covers both brands. Each markets its household electricity as 100% renewable, and each earns the badge the same way: matching annual customer usage with Guarantee of Origin certificates, which EU rules let suppliers buy across borders. The electricity at your socket is the same national grid mix as your neighbour’s on any other supplier — the 2024 all-island fuel mix, even with those certificates counted, was 62.35% renewable. We score both exactly 6.5 on green evidence, and neither badge should decide this matchup.
The differences are second-order. Energia Group owns and operates wind farms in Ireland, so there is generation substance behind the certificates; SSE’s parent, SSE plc, builds and runs wind on the island too, and SSE Airtricity discloses its 100% claim in the CRU/SEM fuel-mix report. Both are more than a badge bought off the shelf; neither is a separately verified green product. If evidenced green sourcing is the deciding factor, the page you want is the best green electricity ranking, where community-owned Irish generation, not certificate volume, separates the field.
Match the supplier to the bill you actually have
Take SSE Airtricity if gas is a serious share of your spend — the €228 year-1 gas gap dwarfs everything else on this page — or you want dual fuel with a published combined figure (€2,571.89), or the fixed plan’s price certainty at €1,294.70 with the €100-per-fuel exit that buys it. See the cheapest gas ranking for how far ahead its gas offer sits. Take Energia if electricity dominates and you have a smart meter you will actually use — Smart Data at €1,382, a flat smart rate at €1,464, and the Smart Track dynamic tariff (smart meter with CTF 4 required; primer at NightSaver vs smart) — or if billing and service is what pushed you off your last supplier.
A third, slightly cheeky option beats both single-supplier answers on today’s sheets: split the fuels. SSE’s €1,166 gas plus Energia’s €1,382 Smart Data comes to about €2,549 — under SSE’s €2,571.89 dual bundle — at the cost of two apps, two direct debits and two €50 exit fees. Whichever way you land, treat it as a 12-month arrangement: both cliffs arrive at month 13, and both suppliers price on the assumption you will not act. Cheaper challengers are covered in Yuno vs Energia, and the two-minute matcher at find your energy will shortlist for your actual usage.
Which should you choose?
It comes down to cost profile, contract terms, and how you like to deal with a supplier. Use this fast decision frame.
Choose Energia if
Your home runs on electricity more than gas and you have a smart meter you will use: Smart Data’s €1,382 year-1 EAB is the sharpest variable figure on this page if you dodge the 17:00–19:00 peak, and Smart Track is a real dynamic tariff. You also weight billing and service — the reason Energia outscores SSE, 7.3 to 7.1.
Check Energia →
Choose SSE Airtricity if
Gas is a big share of your bill — €1,166 vs €1,394 on year 1 is the widest gap between these two — or you want dual fuel with a published combined figure (€2,571.89). Or you want the one contract in this matchup that cannot be repriced mid-term: SSE’s fixed plan at €1,294.70, if you will accept the €100-per-fuel exit fee that comes with the lock.
Check SSE Airtricity →Advertiser disclosure: we may earn a commission when you buy through links on this page. That never affects scores or the winner.
