Ireland

How the Irish market works

The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) is the energy regulator in the Republic of Ireland. ESB Networks owns and runs the electricity distribution network and handles the connection of small generators, and you buy your electricity from a supplier of your choice. The supplier decides your tariff and what you are paid for exports, and ESB Networks decides how a generator or battery may connect.

Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and has its own regulator and market, so nothing on this page applies there.

Electricity prices and smart tariffs

SEAI's Energy Prices Report puts the weighted average household electricity price at 37.0 cent per kWh, with all taxes included, for January to June 2026 (SEAI: electricity and gas prices, published 22 October 2026). The report does not show the standing charge. Eurostat figures for the second half of 2025, reported by RTE, put Irish households at 40.42 cent per kWh including VAT and levies against an EU average of 28.96 cent, the highest in the EU (RTE).

High prices make a battery more interesting only if you can use cheap electricity later, so the tariff matters. Electric Ireland says dynamic price plans, with a unit price that changes every 30 minutes and follows the wholesale market, are now available to its customers with a suitable smart meter, and that you contact the company to switch. A day-and-night tariff can also work for a battery that charges overnight.

The regulator set a deadline of 1 June 2026 for suppliers with 200,000 or more customers to offer a dynamic tariff, moved from 1 October 2025 at the suppliers' request, according to the Irish Examiner (Irish Examiner). We did not find a current list of which suppliers offer one, so compare tariffs yourself. See Electric Ireland's dynamic price plans, and our guides on dynamic energy contracts and how a home battery saves money.

Getting paid for exports: the Clean Export Guarantee

Under the Clean Export Guarantee (CEG), your supplier pays you for every metered kWh you export to the grid. The CRU published the enduring arrangements in June 2024, and payment normally appears as a credit on your bill or on a separate statement (CRU: microgeneration). The page does not list rates, and suppliers set their own, so compare the export rate separately from the price you pay.

Income from selling electricity is exempt from income tax, USC and PRSI up to €400 a year, under section 216D of the Taxes Consolidation Act, and anything above that must be declared (Revenue eBrief 016/24). Revenue's page says the scheme runs to 31 December 2025, and we could not confirm a later extension or the amount, so check Revenue before you rely on it.

How a supplier treats electricity exported from a battery, as opposed to from solar panels, is something we could not confirm, so ask the supplier before you count on it.

Grants and support: the SEAI solar and battery grants

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) pays a solar PV grant of up to €1,800. RTE reported on 29 September 2026 that Budget 2027 added a new €600 grant for home battery storage, which was not previously supported, and widened the solar grant to homes built and occupied before 2025, up from before 2021. Most measures were due to open from 6 October 2026, subject to final arrangements, and SEAI said it would publish detailed criteria before each opens (RTE: new and expanded energy grants).

SEAI's own grant page, when we read it, shows €600 for a battery on top of the solar grant, a total cap of €2,400, and says the home must have been built and occupied before 2011. That conflicts with RTE's date, so we could not tell which is current and recommend that you read the live SEAI page (SEAI: solar electricity grant). The page also requires a BER of C or better after installation and no earlier SEAI-funded solar PV at the address.

Do not start work before you have a grant offer. SEAI says grant offers are valid for eight months, and payment can take up to six weeks. The page describes the battery grant alongside solar, and we found no statement on whether it can be claimed without solar panels; RTE's description as "standalone domestic battery storage" is ambiguous. Ask SEAI before you assume either answer.

Homeowners on qualifying social welfare payments can get up to €9,000 for a 4 kW solar system with a 5 kWh battery, and the Warmer Homes scheme and the Solar PV for the Medically Vulnerable Scheme fund such systems fully, according to RTE.

VAT on solar and batteries

Revenue's guidance says the zero rate of VAT has applied since 1 May 2023 to the supply and installation of solar panels on or adjacent to immovable goods, which includes a private home. It also applies to ancillary equipment supplied and installed as part of the same contract, and the guidance names the wiring, the controller, the combiner box and the batteries. The panels and the installation have to come from the same business in the same supply (Revenue: solar panels, VAT guidance).

The guidance does not cover a battery bought on its own, and we did not find a separate Revenue statement about it. Assume the standard rate applies to a standalone battery unless Revenue confirms otherwise, and ask your installer to state the VAT treatment on the quote.

Connecting to the grid: NC6 and ESB Networks

ESB Networks lets you connect a micro-generator of up to 25 A (about 6 kVA) single-phase or 16 A (about 11 kVA) three-phase under the NC6 route. You apply online or with the NC6 Notification Form, with a type test certificate for the inverter, which must comply with IS EN 50549-1. Larger systems up to 50 kW use the NC7 form. Your registered installer normally submits the application, and ESB Networks then informs your supplier (ESB Networks: connect a micro-generator; CRU).

There is no connection charge for the 'inform and fit' process up to those limits. Wait for ESB Networks' notice that you may proceed before installing, and allow at least four weeks for the connection to be processed according to the SEAI page. If you installed without submitting an NC6, ESB Networks has a retrospective registration process.

ESB Networks lists 'combined renewable micro-generators and storage systems' as a type of micro-generator. It does not say whether a battery on its own that can export needs notification, so we could not confirm that, and recommend that you ask ESB Networks before you install. Using a battery as standby power during an outage (island mode) needs a Registered Electrical Contractor and a changeover switch that breaks the parallel connection with the mains.

Safety, wiring and standards

ESB Networks says the installation must be done by a registered electrical contractor to Safe Electric standards. Wiring in Ireland is governed by I.S. 10101, the national rules for electrical installations, which NSAI published in March 2020 and which replaced ET 101:2008. The NSAI notice does not mention batteries or energy storage, and does mention solar PV (NSAI).

We did not find an Irish fire-safety standard specific to home batteries during our check. Ask your installer which standards the installation meets, and for the completion certificate. For where to put a battery, see are home batteries safe and can you put a home battery outside, and tell your home insurer before installation.

Plug-in solar and plug-in batteries

Plug-in solar panels are not yet covered by finalised Irish rules. The Irish Times reported on 15 July 2026 that a working group of officials and experts chaired by ESB Networks was due to report to the Minister in September, that installation depended on the rules being completed, and that the emerging recommendation was one unit per dwelling. The group will look at add-on battery units, but no plans for batteries have been announced (Irish Times). We did not find a later update, so check before you buy.

Until there are finalised rules, treat any plug-in battery sold for Irish homes as unproven, and read our comparison of plug-in and installed home batteries and the plug-in home battery revolution.

Outside Ireland

Rules, tariffs and incentives for home batteries differ from country to country, so do not apply the figures on this page to a home elsewhere, including Northern Ireland. Guides for the Netherlands and Belgium sit next to this one, and we are adding more.

Common questions about Ireland