The Current #018: Budget 2027 and your energy bills
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Budget 2027 landed on Tuesday, and the electricity price rises land either side of it. If you are with Bord Gáis your bill goes up on October 9th, and if you are with Energia, October 12th. Here is what the Budget does and does not do about it, including three grant changes that are already open and that most of the Budget coverage missed.
First, the thing everyone is asking about
There is no energy credit coming. We said back in August that it looked unlikely, and that is how it landed. The Government chose targeted, permanent measures over a one-off payment to every household.
- If you were budgeting on a credit arriving this winter, plan without one.
- If you are already behind on a bill, ring your supplier now rather than in December. They have far more room to agree a plan early than they do when everyone else is ringing.
- For context on the rises themselves: Bord Gáis electricity is up 8.8%, about €177 a year, with a dual fuel home closer to €317. SSE Airtricity already moved on October 5th.
Three grant changes that are already open
This is the part worth acting on, and it is the part that got least attention. These are not Budget measures. They were approved in late September through the National Energy Affordability Taskforce and took effect on October 6th, which is why they slipped past most of the Budget write-ups:
- A new €600 grant for a home battery. SEAI put the saving at about €137 a year. It sits on top of the existing solar grant, and you can apply for solar and battery on a single application.
- €2,000 to scrap an old oil or kerosene boiler, on top of the heat pump grant. Worth about €185 a year. If you already have a heat pump application in progress, you get this too.
- Solar grants now open to homes built and occupied before 2025. This is the big one. A great many newer houses were shut out before. The grant is up to €1,800 and SEAI estimates €741 a year.
- Solar panels and a battery are now fitted as standard under the fully funded Warmer Homes Scheme, which costs eligible households nothing.
- If you are on certain Department of Social Protection payments, there is an enhanced grant of up to €9,000 for solar PV and a battery together.
- Depending on what you fit, the Department puts the saving at up to €878 a year.
If you have been putting off solar because your house was too new to qualify, check again. That rule changed this week.
Two practical things before you ring anyone. Your grant must be approved before any work starts, because SEAI cannot accept an application for an installation already under way. And because solar and battery go on one application, if you already have a solar application in, you do not amend it. You submit a separate battery application through the portal.
What changes in January
The social welfare side all starts in the new year:
- Fuel Allowance rises €5, from €38 to €43 a week. That is over €1,200 across the season for about 460,000 households.
- More pensioners will qualify. From January the income limit for a single person aged 66 or over goes from half a couple’s limit to 60 percent of it. If you were turned down before on income, it is worth looking again.
- Living Alone Allowance rises €3 to €25 a week.
- €10 a week more across pensions, carer’s payments, disability and working age payments.
- The Christmas Bonus is being paid in December to almost 1.4 million long term recipients.
We covered how to actually claim the Household Benefits Package and Fuel Allowance in detail in September. If you are helping a parent or a neighbour with a form, that issue is still here.
Carbon tax: it depends how you heat
This one splits households, so it is worth knowing which side you are on:
- Heating with oil or gas: the carbon tax on kerosene and natural gas has been cut, to €48.50 a tonne, and the Government has said it will not rise again while it is in office. That is rare certainty for a home heating cost.
- Burning coal or briquettes: a rise is coming. Solid fuel goes to €78.50 a tonne on May 1st, 2027.
- Petrol and diesel: the October rise was postponed, but there are two increases next year, on May 1st and October 13th. The excise reduction now runs to February 28th before being restored in stages to June 30th.
If you have solar, a small win
The amount you can earn selling surplus electricity back to the grid before paying tax on it rises from €400 to €600. That affects up to 140,000 households, and it pairs neatly with the new battery grant.
And on the plug-in balcony panels people keep asking us about: the Budget said nothing about them, so they are still not permitted here. We keep a guide to exactly where that stands and update it whenever the rules move.
Grants pay for the big stuff. Controls decide whether it pays off.
A heat pump or a new boiler running on a bad timer still heats an empty house. A timer, a thermostat or a smart plug costs a fraction of any grant job and starts saving the week you fit it, with no application form and no waiting.
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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.
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