Over 300,000 electricity customers in arrears, study shows
A new study shows that 14% of all domestic electricity customers in Ireland were in arrears, and 8% were in long-term arrears exceeding 90 days.
The Commission carried out the study for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) and shows the energy arrears across Ireland for April 2026.
The CRU say that the average value of a domestic electricity account in arrears was €515.77, and this represented a 1% increase compared to March 2026.
When it came to domestic gas arrears, 27% of all domestic gas customers were in arrears. With 20% of all domestic customers being in long-term arrears over 90 days. These figures remain unchanged since March 2026.
According to the CRU, the average value of a gas account in arrears was €228.61, and this reflects a slight decrease since March 2026.
When it came to non domestic arrears, 13% of all electricity customers were in arrears, while 20% of all non domestic gas customers were in arrears, increasing by 1% since March 2026.
In Ireland, customers are protected during winter and cannot have their energy cut off during this period. However, there were disconnections carried out due to non-payment of account, and this included 168 domestic electricity customers, 69 domestic gas customers, 19 non domestic electricity customers and 9 non-domestic gas customers.
Sinn Féin MEP for Dublin, Lynn Boylan said: “These figures are still beyond belief. It has taken a global fuel and energy crisis for the government to announce any sort of half measure support to people, and it doesn’t go nearly far enough.
“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael need to get serious about helping workers and families that are drowning in energy debt by tackling the core issues driving this crisis.
“They should use Ireland’s presidency of the EU to push for the decoupling of electricity from fossil fuels, to improve our grid for households instead of just data centres, and push back against the soaring demand from data centres who are also driving up energy prices here”