Best Electricity Tariffs for Home Batteries in Ireland 2026

The arbitrage maths: charge at night, discharge by day

Every kWh you put into the battery in the night window costs the night rate. Every kWh you take out later displaces a kWh you would otherwise have bought at the day rate. The battery loses some energy in the round trip, typically 10 to 13% on a modern lithium iron phosphate unit, so the real spread per kWh is a little less than the headline gap.

Three things limit this in practice. The window has to be long enough to fill the battery at its charge rate. You have to use the stored energy during the day or peak rather than exporting it back at the lower Clean Export Guarantee rate. And every cycle wears the battery a little, so the earnings need to be weighed against the cost of the unit; our home battery storage guide covers prices, sizing and payback.

Night-rate tariffs ranked by day-to-night spread

Ranked by the gap between the day rate and the night rate. We do not track a separate day rate for each smart plan, so the day column uses the same supplier’s flat 24-hour new-customer rate; smart plans typically charge more than that during the day and peak, which would widen the spread further. The net column applies the 87% round-trip efficiency.

Night rates include VAT and were verified on 28 October 2026; day rates on 28 Oct 2026. Plans marked closed are no longer sold to new customers and are excluded from the best and median figures below. Suppliers change prices several times a year, so confirm before switching.

What a 5 kWh or 10 kWh battery earns a year

Assumptions: one full cycle a day, 87% round-trip efficiency, 320 usable days a year (the rest are summer days when solar fills the battery instead), and every stored kWh displaces a kWh bought at the day rate. Best spread is Yuno Energy at 21.91c/kWh net; the median across the open plans is 15.76c/kWh net.

Estimates only. Real earnings are lower if the battery is not fully cycled every day, if some stored energy is exported rather than used, or if the plan carries a higher standing charge than the supplier’s standard tariff. They are higher if the smart plan’s actual day or peak rate is above the flat 24-hour rate used here. Battery prices and models are on our solar battery brands page.

Export rates for solar-plus-battery homes

If you have solar as well as a battery, the Clean Export Guarantee rate still matters for the summer surplus the battery cannot absorb. Every rate below is well under the day rates in the table above, which is the whole reason to store solar rather than export it. Ranked highest export rate first; suppliers with a night-rate plan we track are marked.

Export rates verified 28 Oct 2026. The full comparison with payment cadence and contract terms is on our best electricity providers for solar page, and the scheme itself is explained in our microgeneration guide.

Dynamic tariffs: the next step for battery owners

A dynamic tariff replaces fixed day and night rates with a price that changes every half hour, tracking the wholesale market. On windy nights the price can drop very low; on still, cold evenings it can spike. A battery with a controller that reads the day-ahead prices can charge in the cheapest slots and discharge in the dearest, which is arbitrage with a wider and more variable spread than any fixed night rate.

Electric Ireland launched the first dynamic tariff in Ireland. Because the price changes daily we do not print a dynamic rate here; if you are considering one, compare it against the fixed spreads above over a full winter rather than a single cheap week, and make sure your inverter or battery app can actually schedule to the half-hourly prices.

Irish Electricity Price Changes 2026

Every announced change we have verified on the supplier's own site, newest first, with the date it takes effect. The rates on this page were last verified on 28 Oct 2026 and show the current price until each change lands.

1. 23 Oct 2026

   Yuno Energy

   New-customer Variable Discount Plan repriced. The 24-hour urban rate went from 34.85c to 39.10c/kWh and the urban standing charge from €219.22 to €264.73; Variable Smart became 41.39c day, 26.08c night, 47.65c peak. Yuno's EV Standard Smart plan closed to new customers on 16 October, and Yuno's pricing page says a winter price freeze on electricity and gas runs from 13 October 2026 to 1 March 2027. source

2. 12 Oct 2026

   Energia

   Electricity unit rates rose 4.73% and gas 9.38%. The standard 24-hour rate went to 43.50c/kWh and the urban standing charge from €265.01 to €278.27. With the combined new-customer discount now 26% (it was 30%), the 24-hour rate we track went from 29.85c to 32.19c/kWh. The EV Smart Drive charge-time rate rose to 12.25c/kWh after the 10% discount. source

3. 9 Oct 2026

   Bord Gáis Energy

   Electricity unit rates up 9.1% and standing charges up 7.2% (typical bill +8.8%). Standard 24-hour rate 41.59c to 45.38c/kWh; urban standing charge €244.76 to €262.38. The new-customer discount is now 28% (it was 26%), so the 24-hour rate we track went from 30.78c to 32.67c/kWh. source

4. 5 Oct 2026

   SSE Airtricity

   Electricity rose around 9%: the standard 24-hour rate went from 41.13c to 45.00c/kWh. Top Discount 24-hour rate 28.79c to 31.50c/kWh; urban standing charge €263.86 to €279.99. source

5. 1 Oct 2026

   All suppliers

   CRU-approved 2026/27 network charges added about €41.25 a year (€3.44 a month) to a typical domestic electricity bill after the regulator trimmed network revenue allowances by €138 million. Every supplier passes these charges through. source

6. 1 Oct 2026

   All suppliers

   PSO levy cut by 66% for the 2026/27 levy year, to €0.51 a month for domestic customers (€6.12 a year ex-VAT, €6.67 inc VAT, down from €19.10). It is charged by every supplier, so it lowered every bill by the same amount. source

7. 14 Sep 2026

   Pinergy

   Pinergy said a typical bill would rise 7.6%. The 24-hour standard rate went from 41.77c to 45.80c/kWh (up 9.6% on the unit rate) with the standing charge unchanged. The pay-as-you-go plan we track is priced at 10% off that standard rate. source

8. 1 Aug 2026

   Pinergy

   Clean Export Guarantee cut from 25c to 18.5c/kWh, and the EV night rate rose from 5.99c to 10.89c/kWh. source

9. 20 Jul 2026

   Flogas

   Electricity and gas rates increased. The standard 24-hour rate is now 44.00c/kWh and Flogas lists no new-customer discount plan; the 28% loyalty discount is for existing customers only. source

10. 1 Jul 2026

    Electric Ireland

    Residential electricity up 8% and gas up 7.7%, the first Electric Ireland rise since October 2022, affecting about 1.1 million electricity customers. The EnergySaver 24-hour new-customer rate we track is 31.95c/kWh after the change. source

Full details of each rise, with before-and-after rates, are on the electricity price increases page. The underlying market is tracked daily on the wholesale electricity prices page. Budget 2027 on 6 October contained no universal energy credit: see what support exists instead.

Tariff leaderboards

The same supplier data, ranked for a different question. Pick the one that matches how your home uses electricity.

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