This is the rate charged per unit of electricity or gas you use. It is measured in kilowatt hours (kWh).

Unit Price Rate

The standing charge is a cost that is included in each energy bill and is set by your supplier. Standing charges on your electricity bill are fixed daily fees that cover the cost of maintaining the electricity network, regardless of how much electricity you use.This charge is applied for each day of the billing period. A billing period is generally about two months or 60 days. Both the frequency of the billing period, and the actual standing charge, can vary among suppliers.

Electricity and gas standing charges

These are what you pay for the energy bought to supply your home or business. They make up about a third of your energy bill. Suppliers buy energy from electricity generators and gas producers on the wholesale market.Prices on the wholesale market can go up and down very quickly. They depend on what’s happening globally with fuels like gas, oil, coal and increasingly renewable fuels.Demand also affects price and wholesale prices are generally lower when demand is low and fuel availability is high. They rise when the opposite is the case.Suppliers often buy energy in advance for their tariffs, some by as much as two to three years. They usually buy energy for fixed-term tariffs closer to when they launch them.

Wholesale costs

These are for the gas pipes and electricity cables that carry energy across the country into your home or business. Network companies charge your supplier and these tariffs for their use of the energy network. This money goes towards maintaining, running and upgrading the networks by ESB Networks and Eirgrid.Network costs vary from year to year, for example, to reflect usage or how we need to allocate costs on different parts of the network.

Network costs

Larger suppliers have to help pay for government energy policies. These costs could cover schemes to support energy efficiency improvements in homes and businesses, help vulnerable people and encourage take up of renewable technology.

Social and environmental obligation costs

When suppliers set their prices, they will try to cover their operating costs as well as make a profit.Operation costs cover things like customer service, billing and the general costs of running an energy business.Margins are a supplier’s overall earnings before deducting interest, tax and other costs.

Supplier operating and margin costs

These cover costs for things like:<ul><li data-block-key="2168q">third-party services, such as sales commissions and brokerage</li><li data-block-key="1rhgp">meter maintenance and installations</li><li data-block-key="104ig">administration from data and settlement services</li><li data-block-key="alvn3">wider smart metering programme costs.</li></ul>

Other direct costs

What is included in your electricity and gas bills.

Energy Costs

Background