Thirty-second version: a time-of-use tariff charges different rates at different hours. NightSaver (MCC02) splits the day in two at 23:00–08:00; smart plans add a peak band, commonly 17:00–19:00 on weekdays, priced at 45.38c–56.76c/kWh on the cards we verified on 28 August 2026; EV, weekend and dynamic plans carve the clock further. Each shape needs the matching meter configuration, the move onto a smart configuration is typically one-way, and none of it is an automatic saving — if your usage cannot move, stay on 24-hour and just switch supplier once a year.
matched.ie is not a CRU-accredited comparison site — we explain and rank from our own verified dataset. The accredited comparators are listed on cru.ie.
What does “time-of-use” actually mean?
On a flat 24-hour plan, a kWh costs the same at 3 a.m. as at 6 p.m. A time-of-use (ToU) tariff breaks that: the price per unit depends on the clock, and sometimes on the day of the week. The idea is older than the marketing around it — NightSaver meters have rewarded overnight storage heating for decades — but the national smart-meter rollout has multiplied the shapes on sale, because a smart meter can record when every unit was used, not just how many.
Two things follow, and they are the spine of this page. First, a ToU plan is not a discount — it is a redistribution. The cheap night, EV or weekend window is paid for by dearer rates in the rest of the clock, most sharply in the early-evening peak. Whether you win depends entirely on whether your usage already sits in the cheap windows or can be moved there. Second, every shape needs the matching meter configuration — the MCC code ESB Networks holds against your MPRN — so what you are allowed to sign is decided by the meter before it is decided by you. The smart meter guide covers the rollout side; here we walk the tariff ladder itself.
What tariff types exist — the whole ladder?
Six rungs, from the shape every home can have to the shape only enthusiasts should. Each row shows the meter it needs, who genuinely wins on it, and the catch the sales page underplays.
| Tariff type | Meter needed | Who it suits | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24-hour flat | Any — MCC01, or a smart meter left in its existing configuration | Evening-heavy families, low users, renters, anyone who cannot or will not move usage around the clock | No reward for shifting load — and the year-1 discount still dies at month 12 like every other plan |
| NightSaver (day/night) | MCC02 day/night meter — legacy, still sold | Storage heating, immersion timers, big genuine night load (23:00–08:00) | Dearer day rate and usually a higher standing charge; only pays past a break-even night share |
| Smart day/night/peak | Smart meter reconfigured as MCC16 (or MCC12) | Homes that can genuinely keep cooking and laundry out of the evening peak | A 45c–57c/kWh peak at teatime on the cards we verified — and the move off MCC01/MCC02 is typically one-way |
| Weekend | Smart meter, usually MCC12 half-hourly | Out-all-week households whose big usage lands Saturday and Sunday | The cheap weekend is paid for by the weekday rates; check the exact windows on the tariff card |
| EV / night-window | Smart meter, usually MCC12 with half-hourly data | Home EV chargers on a schedule — windows like 02:00–06:00 at 8.59c–9.96c on the cards we verified | The whole house inherits the smart card, peak included; without a car the window is wasted |
| Dynamic (wholesale-linked) | Smart meter with full comms — CTF score 4 | Engaged load-shifters, home batteries, automation people who will watch tomorrow’s prices | The price changes hour by hour with the market — a calm month can be followed by an expensive week |
Read the ladder top to bottom and a pattern appears: each rung down demands more from you — more meter, more load-shifting, more attention — in exchange for a lower floor price in its special window. The 24-hour plan asks nothing and gives nothing; the dynamic plan asks you to think about tomorrow’s wholesale market before you put the wash on. Where you belong depends on which of those descriptions sounds like your actual life, not your ambitions for it.
Time-of-use is not a default upgrade. A smart meter arriving on your wall does not move you to a smart tariff, and moving is not the “modern” choice the way fibre broadband is. It is a bet that you can shift load — and the house takes the other side of the bet at 17:00 every evening. If you would not confidently reschedule your cooking, washing and heating today, the ladder’s bottom rung is not beneath you; it is correct for you. Switch supplier on a flat rate instead — the year-1 vs year-2 page shows where that saving actually lives.
What does a smart time-of-use day look like?
Here is the generic three-band smart day — the shape most day/night/peak cards follow. The green band is the cheap night, rust is daytime, and the dark block is the peak premium sitting exactly on dinner.
Night 23:00–08:00 Day Peak. Windows vary by supplier and plan — some smart cards are flat or two-band with no peak at all. The card you sign is the only source of truth for your hours.
Notice what the strip implies about an ordinary household. The two dark hours are when Irish demand spikes — cookers, kettles, immersions, everyone home at once — which is precisely why suppliers price them highest. A family that does nothing differently after moving to this shape has simply agreed to pay the most for the hours it was always going to use. The win only exists for homes whose load can slide left into the green.
How dear is the evening peak, really?
These are not hypothetical numbers. Four peak rates from cards we verified on the suppliers’ own sites on 28 August 2026, cent per kWh including 9% VAT:
For scale: a 2 kW oven running for the two peak hours is 4 kWh — around €1.82 to €2.27 per evening at these rates, every weekday, before the hob, the kettle or the dryer joins in. Discounted year-1 smart cards knock a percentage off these numbers, but the discount lapses at month 12 and the undiscounted card is what you drift onto — the same year-2 cliff as every other plan, now with a peak attached. And to be fair to the shape: not every smart plan has a peak. Flat and two-band smart cards exist, which is also your route back to flat pricing if a smart move disappoints.
Which meter does each tariff type need?
Every rung of the ladder is gated by a Meter Configuration Code — ESB Networks’ record of how your meter measures time, held against your MPRN. The mapping is simple: MCC01 is a standard 24-hour meter; MCC02 is the NightSaver day/night pair with its fixed 23:00–08:00 window; MCC16 is a smart meter mapped into day, night and peak bands; and MCC12 is a smart meter exporting half-hourly readings, which is what EV windows, weekend bands and dynamic pricing generally require. Dynamic plans additionally need the meter’s communications to be fully working — a CTF score of 4 — because a tariff that reprices hourly is useless if the readings cannot get home.
Suppliers can only sell you tariffs matching your code, and the code is printed on most bills near the meter details. The part that earns a warning box everywhere on this site: the move to a smart configuration is typically one-way. Sign a smart, EV or dynamic plan and your MCC becomes 12 or 16 permanently — ESB Networks will not restore MCC01 or MCC02 later. You can always get a flat price again on a flat-rate smart card, but the legacy configurations are doors that close behind you. The full mechanics, including what the smart rollout does and does not change, are in the smart meter guide and the NightSaver vs smart head-to-head.
Who should just stay on a 24-hour tariff?
More people than the marketing suggests. Stay on the flat rate — and put your energy into switching supplier instead — if any of these describes you:
- Your usage cannot move. Dinner at six, showers in the morning, no timers, no EV. A ToU plan re-prices your existing day; it does not improve it.
- You are evening-heavy. The 17:00–19:00 window is the dearest two hours on most smart cards. If that is your busiest window, the maths starts against you and rarely recovers.
- You are a low user or in an apartment. The absolute saving from load-shifting scales with usage. On a small bill the upside is a handful of euro and the meter reconfiguration is forever.
- You rent. Committing the property to a one-way configuration change for a tariff you may hold for nine months is a poor trade — and the next tenant inherits it.
- You will not actually check. ToU rewards attention. If you know you will never look at an app or a rate card again after signing, the flat rate is the honest choice.
Staying on 24-hour is not settling. A discounted flat deal, re-shopped every 12 months via the switching process, beats a badly-fitting smart card without asking you to change a single habit. Start with the main ranking or find your energy.
When do weekend, EV and dynamic tariffs make sense?
The bottom three rungs are specialist tools, and each has exactly one honest use case.
Weekend plans pay off for the household that genuinely is not home Monday to Friday — shift workers, heavy commuters, weekend-batch cookers and launderers. The weekday rates fund the weekend discount, so an ordinary Tuesday evening at home eats the gain. Windows differ by card: some discount the whole weekend, some a slice of it. Confirm the hours before signing, not after.
EV plans are the strongest case on the ladder. A car pulling 7-plus kWh a night inside a window priced at 8.59c–9.96c/kWh (the Yuno, Energia and Flogas windows we verified, all in the small hours) is the one load big enough and schedulable enough to make time-of-use decisively win — a scheduled charger does the shifting for you. The trade is that the whole house moves onto the smart card, peak included, so the kitchen partly refunds what the driveway saves. The EV tariff ranking prices the windows side by side and EV charging costs does the per-charge maths.
Dynamic tariffs float your unit price with the wholesale market, half-hour by half-hour — since June 2026 the larger suppliers have been required to offer one, so they are now a real consumer product rather than a curiosity. Cheap, even startlingly cheap, hours exist; so do expensive ones, and the bill needs watching in a way no other rung does. They belong to people with automation, batteries, or genuine enthusiasm — the dynamic tariffs guide covers how the pricing, caps and CTF-4 requirement work. And if your night load is old-fashioned — storage heaters, an immersion on a timer — the legacy shape may still be your best fit: see the NightSaver ranking, which computes the night share each deal needs to beat flat pricing.
How do I pick my rung — and what next?
Three questions settle it. Can your biggest loads move? If no, stay flat and switch supplier annually. Do they move themselves? A scheduled EV charger or storage heating says yes; good intentions say no. Will you check? Dynamic and weekend shapes only reward people who look. Answer honestly, then price your own annual kWh — it is on your bill, in kWh (what a kWh is, if that line is new to you) — through the shape you are considering before you commit to a configuration you cannot undo.
- Smart meters in Ireland — what the rollout changes, and what it does not.
- NightSaver vs smart time-of-use — the two night-rate systems, head to head with verified rates.
- Dynamic tariffs — wholesale-linked pricing, explained before you sign one.
- Best EV tariff and best NightSaver deals — the two specialist rankings.
- How to switch — the 2–4 week process, whichever rung you land on.
