The Current #013: Will the Energy Credit Be Back This Winter?
Shamrock Electrical
The kids are all back to school this week, the evenings are turning, and the Budget is only weeks away. This issue: where the energy credit actually stands, the new dynamic tariffs every big supplier now has to offer, and the security lighting jobs worth doing before the darker evenings arrive.
Energy credit watch: what has changed this month
Last month we told you the universal energy credit had been ruled out for Budget 2027. That is still the position, but the ground has shifted a little since:
- In June, Minister for Finance Simon Harris ruled out bringing back the universal energy credit, the one every household got automatically.
- This month his language shifted. On 8 August he spoke about targeted supports instead: grants to help households move to solar and renewables, and help for people already behind on their bills. “Households and small businesses cannot be expected to carry the burden alone,” he said.
- An Energy Affordability Taskforce reports this autumn, and its recommendations will feed straight into the Budget, which lands in early October.
- One thing already locked in: the reduced 9 percent VAT rate on electricity and gas has been extended all the way to the end of 2030.
The practical read stays the same: plan your winter as if no automatic credit is coming. But if you are in arrears, or you have been putting off solar or insulation, keep an eye on early October. Targeted help for exactly those situations is now openly on the table.
Every big supplier now has to offer a dynamic tariff. Should you touch one?
Since 1 June, Electric Ireland, Bord Gáis, Energia, SSE Airtricity and PrePay Power have all been required to offer a dynamic price tariff, where the rate changes every half hour with the wholesale market. Here is the plain-English version:
- A dynamic tariff has 48 different prices a day, one for each half hour, published the evening before in your supplier's app. Cheap when wind is blowing and demand is low, dear at the evening peak.
- You need a smart meter, and switching is entirely optional. Nobody is moved onto one automatically.
- They suit homes that can shift the big loads: washes, the dryer, the dishwasher and the immersion moved to cheap windows. With the school routine now set for the year, that is easier to plan than it sounds: a delay-start button and the job runs at 2am prices.
- They do NOT suit steady all-day users who do not want to watch prices. If that is you, a plain day/night tariff, or the one you are on, is the better home. The peak prices on a dynamic tariff can sting.
- Either way, it costs nothing to open your supplier's app and look at what you are on now. Most people have never checked.
The evenings are turning. Time for the security reset
We are losing about four minutes of daylight a day, and by the clocks going back it will be dark before six. Autumn is when opportunists get braver. Four jobs, none of them big:
- A motion sensor light over the drive or the side passage is the single best value deterrent there is. Nobody likes being lit up.
- A dusk-to-dawn fitting at the front door means the approach is never dark, and it only draws power through the hours it is actually needed.
- A plug-in timer on a lamp in the front room makes the house look lived-in for the price of a bulb's worth of electricity. Set it for the hours you are normally home.
- If you have been thinking about a doorbell camera or a security camera, the weeks before the clocks go back are the time to get it up and working, not after.
Free delivery from the first euro, and fitted-in-an-afternoon simple.
REVIEW SPOTLIGHT
“Top Class Service, Family Run Business. Always great Advice, Always friendly service.”
Patrick, on Trustpilot this month
Have we looked after you? A 30-second review helps other homeowners find us.
Review us on TrustpilotAbout Shamrock Electrical Supplies
Shamrock Electrical Supplies is an electrical retailer and wholesaler based in Greenogue Business Park, Rathcoole, Co. Dublin. We supply homeowners and professional contractors across Ireland, with free delivery from the first euro.
Find Us
Shamrock Electrical Supplies
Unit 22, Block 613, Jordanstown Road
Greenogue Business Park
Rathcoole, Co. Dublin, D24 TX98
Opening Hours
Monday to Friday: 7am to 5pm
Saturday: 9am to 1pm
Sunday: Closed