On 11 May 2026, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) published the Interim Review on Competition Assessment and Retail Price Drivers in the Energy Markets. The review was carried out at my request, in order to meet a commitment in the Programme for Government. The review was prepared with input from the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission on the competition assessment elements. The report will help to inform the work of the National Energy Affordability Taskforce.
The Review found that elevated energy prices in Ireland are being driven by a number of factors including wholesale costs, Ireland’s network architecture, network investment in support of a secure low carbon transition, and not by any underlying issues or failures in the competition model.
It provides a breakdown of each cost component that makes up a domestic tariff for electricity and natural gas customers. These components were tracked over time, illustrating their changing impact on customer bills.
The CRU assessed key indicators of competition in the energy retail market including barriers to market entry/exit, market share, market concentration, switching and renegotiation rates and margins.
The analysis found that retail prices follow wholesale market prices but with a time lag, stating that while hedging can provide greater certainty on retail prices and protect customers from immediate price shocks, it does not guarantee lower prices for customers, and any changes in wholesale market prices will eventually feed through to customer bills.
The interim report also found that competition in the Irish retail electricity and gas markets is working and is generating meaningful rivalry as:
• consumers can choose from a range of suppliers;
• switching rates of domestic consumers are high and above the EU average;
• margins do not indicate that suppliers are making excessive returns; and
• there is no evidence of significant barriers to entry.
Further work will follow in examining this area, with access to more granular data, including consideration of profitability in particular segments within the market.
Other findings include that switching rates are reasonably high, compare well to other European countries in the domestic electricity and gas sector, and that customers who engage in the market can secure significant savings. The switching rates for businesses did not compare as favourably and reasons for this lower level require further assessment.
At this point of the review process, data gathered to date from several suppliers indicates that margins remain relatively low and that supplier margins do not point to excessive profitability. Data shows that as costs and bills increased following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, supplier margins moved into negative territory, impacted by large increases in the costs of operating their business.
My officials engaged with the CRU on number of occasions in recent months to emphasise the importance of the review. Officials met with the CRU on 3 March 2026 and 30 April 2026 to discuss work carried out and progress on the review. My Department also received a number of emails during the process of developing the report. The CRU will now conduct further work over the coming months following which a final report will be published.
