Night Rate Electricity in Ireland: Hours, Rates and Whether It Pays

Night rate hours: NightSaver meter versus smart tariff

There are two different clocks in use, and confusing them is the most common reason people think their night rate is not working.

The NightSaver hours are published by ESB Networks and repeated by every supplier: 11pm to 8am in winter time and 12am to 9am in summer time. The meter runs on GMT all year, so when the clocks go forward in late March the switch-over simply appears an hour later on your kitchen clock. The smart tariff bands are defined by the CRU's Standard Smart Tariff structure: night 11pm to 8am, peak 5pm to 7pm, day the remaining hours, in local time.

If you are not sure which meter you have, or how to read its registers, see the smart meters guide.

Night rate electricity plans compared

Every current smart plan with a cheaper night or overnight window, ranked by its cheapest overnight rate. All rates include VAT and use the urban standing charge, read on each supplier's own tariff page on 12 Sep 2026. Plans with an announced price change are flagged.

Rates are c/kWh including VAT. Where a supplier lists gross rates and applies direct debit and online billing discounts, the discounted rate is shown. Pinergy's Family Time plan is included because its cheap window is 7pm to midnight rather than overnight. Sources for each plan are listed at the bottom of the page.

The day/night break-even: how much usage has to move overnight

A night-rate plan is only cheaper than a flat plan once the savings on night units outweigh the extra you pay on day units. The share of your usage that has to fall in the night band for the two to cost the same, on unit rates alone, is:

night share = (day rate minus flat rate) divided by (day rate minus night rate)

The table applies that formula to each supplier's smart day/night/peak plan against the same supplier's own flat 24-hour new-customer rate (from our cheapest electricity data, verified 12 Sep 2026). Peak units are counted at the day rate in the formula, so treat the share as a floor. The last two columns cost both plans for a 4,200 kWh home on the standard domestic split (57.1% day, 31.7% night, 11.2% peak), standing charges included.

Two things stand out. Where the smart plan's day rate is already at or below the supplier's flat rate, the night plan wins at any night share. Where the day rate is well above the flat rate, you need a genuinely large overnight load, an EV, a battery or storage heating, before it pays. The cheapest flat rate in the market right now is SSE Airtricity at 28.79c/kWh, which is the number any night-rate plan really has to beat if you are willing to switch supplier.

What to run at night to make the rate pay

Lighting, TV and cooking cannot move, so the plan only works if the big, timeable loads do. In rough order of how much they shift:

Dedicated guides: best EV tariffs, tariffs for home batteries and tariffs for heat pumps.

The standing-charge catch on EV plans

EV plans advertise the lowest overnight rates, but look at the standing charge column in the table above. The EV plans from Bord Gáis Energy (€364.59), Electric Ireland (€328.58), Energia (€265.01), Yuno Energy (€358.07) all sit well above the same suppliers' standard smart plans, and most of them charge a flat rate outside the window that is higher than a normal day rate, with no separate night band at all.

That combination means an EV plan is for homes that will fill the cheap window most nights. A household without an EV, battery or storage heating is usually better on the ordinary day/night/peak plan, where the 11pm to 8am night rate is higher than the EV window but applies for nine hours and the standing charge is lower. The EV tariff comparison works through the annual cost at 2,700 kWh of charging.

Tariff leaderboards

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

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 12 Sep 2026 and show the current price until each change lands.

1. 12 Oct 2026

   Energia

   Electricity and gas prices rise by up to 9.4%. The new-customer 24-hour rate we track goes from 29.85c to 30.45c/kWh and the urban standing charge from €265.01 to €278.27. source

2. 9 Oct 2026

   Bord Gáis Energy

   Electricity rises around 9% (typical bill +8.8%). New-customer 24-hour rate 30.78c to 33.58c/kWh; urban standing charge €244.76 to €262.38. source

3. 5 Oct 2026

   SSE Airtricity

   Electricity rises around 9%. Top Discount 24-hour rate 28.79c to 31.50c/kWh; urban standing charge €263.86 to €280.01. source

4. 1 Oct 2026

   All suppliers

   CRU-approved 2026/27 network charges add 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

5. 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 lowers every bill by the same amount. 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. No universal energy credit is planned for Budget 2027 on 6 October: see what support exists instead.

Night rate electricity FAQ

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