The Spark #028: SSE Hikes 9 Per Cent, Copper Sets Records and New Site Lighting Lands at Shamrock
Shamrock Electrical
Welcome to Issue #28. The autumn bill season has properly started: SSE Airtricity is putting electricity up around 9 per cent from early October, and Pinergy's rise lands on Monday. Copper did not just stay high this week, it set two all-time records in two days. We also have the confirmed excise restoration amounts we promised you, a travel warning for anyone with jobs near Screggan next week, and a new arrival at the counter that could not be better timed for the shortening days: a 50 metre LED site lighting reel.
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SSE Airtricity Hikes Around 9 Per Cent From October: The Autumn Squeeze Is On
SSE Airtricity announced on Thursday that electricity unit rates rise 9.4 per cent and gas unit rates 11.6 per cent from early October. For a typical customer that is €171.55 a year more on electricity, €138.70 more on gas, and €311.48 for dual fuel homes. The electricity standing charge also climbs 6.1 per cent. Managing director Stephen Gallagher said the company could "no longer absorb these costs", pointing at wholesale gas prices that have more than doubled in twelve months and rising network charges.
That makes three suppliers moving this autumn: Pinergy's 7.6 per cent increase takes effect this coming Monday, SSE follows in early October, and the CRU's €41.25 network charge rise lands on every bill in the country from October 1st regardless of who supplies it. Energia and Bord Gáis have not moved yet. On current form, expect them to.
What it means for you: Every one of these headlines makes an energy conversation easier to start. LED upgrades, heating controls, immersion timers, night-rate load shifting for anyone on a smart tariff, solar and battery for anyone serious: the payback maths improves with every increase, and the customer has just seen the letter that proves it. Worth having a simple one-page "what an hour of my work saves you a year" pitch ready for October.
Copper Sets Two All-Time Records in Two Days: $14,703 a Tonne
We have been warning about copper since August, and this week it stopped flirting with the record and broke it twice. London Metal Exchange copper set a fresh all-time high on Monday, then beat it again on Tuesday at $14,703 a tonne. Copper is now up 18 per cent this year. LME warehouse stocks are down around 40 per cent since late May, Shanghai stocks are at their lowest since January 2024, and expected American tariffs on refined copper keep pulling physical metal across the Atlantic. Macquarie's analysts added Chilean supply problems and data centre demand to the list of reasons this is not cooling off.
What it means for you: Cable list prices follow the LME with a lag of weeks, and they have not caught up with this week yet. If there is a rewire, a fit-out or any cable-heavy job on the autumn book, buy the cable now, not when the job starts. Keep quote validity short, seven to fourteen days on anything with serious cable content, and requote anything that has sat unsigned since the summer. Twin and Earth, SWA, singles and flex are all available in-store at Greenogue: ring 01 401 9907 for today's trade price, and we will do our best to hold it for you against a firm order.
⚖️ Watch List: The PMI Cools, the Excise Steps Are Confirmed, and Poolbeg Breaks Ground
Construction PMI. August came in at 50.7, down from July's 53.0: still growth, but only just. The detail matters more than the headline: commercial activity rose for the sixth month in seven, civils were flat, and housing fell solidly. Employment rose for a tenth straight month and input costs ticked up, with oil and metals named specifically. The message for the trade: commercial fit-out is where the momentum is, and this week's tip is about pricing it properly.
The excise steps, confirmed. Two weeks ago we promised the exact restoration amounts when they were published. Here they are: November 1st, petrol up 5c and diesel up 7c; December 1st, the same again; January 31st, petrol up 7c and diesel up 8c; February 28th, petrol up 8c and diesel up 8c. Those are excise amounts, so VAT goes on top at the pump. Worth noting the Taoiseach said on Tuesday the Government is discussing further fuel supports "in the next two to three weeks", with Fuels for Ireland claiming diesel has touched €2 a litre at some forecourts, so this schedule may yet move again. We will keep you posted.
Poolbeg breaks ground. ESB Networks has started the major upgrade of the Poolbeg 220kV substation, part of the Powering Up Dublin programme: around 50km of new cabling and new substations to unlock roughly 1.6 gigawatts of capacity, running to 2028 and beyond. The PR6 money we have been writing about all summer is now visibly turning into sites, and multi-year grid work in the capital means sub-contract and connection work all the way down the chain.
🌿 Ploughing Week: Plan Around Screggan (and Enjoy It If You're Going)
The 95th National Ploughing Championships run Tuesday to Thursday next week at Screggan, Tullamore, with over 275,000 visitors expected across the three days. If you have jobs anywhere on the Offaly, Laois or Kildare side of the country, or you use the M7 or M6 mid-morning, plan for at least double the normal travel time on all three days, and note the traffic plan does not guarantee site access after 3pm for anyone heading in late.
If you are going, and plenty of the trade treat the Wednesday as a working day out, it is a genuinely good week for the electrical side of agri work: generators, dairy and shed electrics, water heating and security kit are all over the exhibition lines. Park-and-ride from Tullamore and Portarlington stations takes the pain out of the run in. Call into nobody's stand without a fistful of your own business cards, and if you spot something at the show you want priced, ring the counter and we will see what we can do on it.
🔦 New at Shamrock: The 50 Metre LED Site Lighting Reel
Just landed at the counter, and with site mornings getting darker by four minutes a day, the timing is no accident: the 110V LED Site Lighting Reel, 50 metres of continuous LED strip on a steel carry reel, at €189.99 inc VAT.
Why it beats a string of festoons:
- Even light the whole way. Over 50,000 lumens spread along the full 50 metres, roughly 1,050 lumens per metre, with none of the bright pools and dark patches you get from lamp-to-lamp festoon strings.
- Site-ready out of the box. Fitted 16A 110V CEE plug goes straight into the site transformer, IP65 rated, runs from minus 25 to plus 55 degrees, and there is no glass to smash and nothing that runs hot.
- Built for the long job. 32,000+ hour rated life, CE and UKCA marked, and a 3 year warranty. The steel reel with stand and handle means one person rolls out a whole corridor or stairwell run in minutes and reels it back in at strike.
One reel lights a serious stretch of corridor, stairwell or scaffold run off a single transformer outlet at 500W total. For first and second fix crews spending the winter inside unfinished shells, it is the difference between working in your own shadow and actually seeing the job.
Trade pricing: The €189.99 on the website is the retail price. Site crews needing two or three reels, ring the counter on 01 401 9907 or email sales@shamrockelectrical.ie and we'll price the bundle properly. Transformers, extension leads and the rest of the 110V ecosystem are available in-store at Greenogue.
💡 Contractor Tip of the Week: Pricing Commercial Fit-Out When You've Grown Up on Domestic
The PMI keeps saying it: commercial is where the growth is. But plenty of good domestic electricians burn themselves on their first few commercial fit-outs, because the pricing logic is different. Six things to get right before you sign:
- Price from the drawings, not the walk-around. Commercial jobs live and die on the spec and the drawings. Take them away, count every point, containment run and fitting, and price the document, not the chat. If the drawings change, that is a variation, which is point four.
- Put a number on prelims. Inductions, RAMS, sign-in time, welfare, parking, hoisting, waiting on other trades: on a domestic job these are noise, on a commercial job they are real hours. Price them as their own line or lose them.
- Know the payment terms before you know the price. Thirty to sixty day terms are normal, and a €40,000 job on 60 day terms means you are the bank for two months of materials at this week's copper prices. Price the financing, stage the payments, and check who is above you in the chain actually pays.
- Variations in writing, every time, same day. The site foreman who says "sure fire ahead there" will not remember it at final account. A one-line email with a price beats a row in November.
- Understand RCT before your first invoice. If you are a subcontractor to a principal contractor, Relevant Contracts Tax applies: registered and compliant means 0 per cent withheld for most, but get it wrong and 20 or 35 per cent of your money sits with Revenue. Your accountant sorts this in an hour: have that hour before the job, not after.
- Margin the materials separately from the labour. Commercial quantities move real money, and materials bought well are margin. Price the supply line off today's counter quote with a validity date, and let the trade account earn its keep.
📅 Dates to Know
- Monday September 14th: Pinergy electricity prices up 7.6 per cent.
- Tuesday September 15th to Thursday 17th: National Ploughing Championships, Screggan. Double your travel time; no site access guaranteed after 3pm.
- Early October: SSE Airtricity increases take effect.
- Thursday October 1st: CRU network charges up €41.25 a year on every bill.
- Tuesday October 6th: Budget 2027.
- Sunday October 25th: Clocks go back.
- Saturday October 31st: Fuel excise cuts expire.
- Sunday November 1st: Excise step one: petrol up 5c, diesel up 7c, plus VAT on top.
- Every Wednesday: The Spark lands in your inbox.
That's it for this week. Buy the autumn cable before the LME does any more damage, have the energy-saving pitch ready for the October bills, and if you're at the Ploughing on Wednesday, safe travels and bring the cards. Trade counter is open Monday to Friday 7am to 5pm and Saturday 9am to 1pm.
The Shamrock Electrical Team
Greenogue Business Park, Rathcoole, Co. Dublin
01 401 9907 | sales@shamrockelectrical.ie
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📖 Previous Issues
- Issue 027: The excise reprieve is signed, the summer that cooked Irish homes, storm season opens, emergency lighting
- Issue 026: September's fuel excise hikes scrapped, Dublin's 80,000 home pipeline, wall lanterns and the Fumagalli range
- Issue 025: The eclipse rattles the grid, construction PMI back to growth, copper near record, schools are back
- Issue 024: Diesel up 19 cent, the excise schedule, wind power dumped by the grid, bulkhead lights
About Shamrock Electrical Supplies
Shamrock Electrical Supplies is an electrical wholesaler and retailer based in Greenogue Business Park, Rathcoole, Co. Dublin. We supply professional electrical contractors and homeowners across Ireland.
Contractors who open a trade account get competitive trade pricing, reliable stock availability, and a team that knows what they are talking about.
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
Get in Touch
📞 01 401 9907
✉️ sales@shamrockelectrical.ie
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