Ireland has the highest household electricity prices in the European Union, around EUR 480 per year above the EU average.
86% confidence
EconomyIreland
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The €480/year figure is a derived estimate, not a Eurostat statistic: Eurostat publishes prices per kWh (Ireland €0.4042/kWh vs. an EU average roughly 40% lower); the annual euro gap depends on the assumed annual household consumption and the consumption band used, so the exact €480 depends on the calculation basis.
Ireland's top ranking refers to the standard 'DC' household consumption band including taxes; for other consumption bands the ranking can differ, and Ireland's position excluding taxes/levies is lower.
The causal claim that high prices are 'a direct result of our continued reliance on imported gas' is a political simplification: press coverage of the same Eurostat data attributes Irish prices to a combination of factors including a dispersed population, a weakly connected grid, network/levy costs and fossil-fuel exposure.
Eurostat's latest available data at the time of the speech covered the second half of 2025 (published 5 May 2026), i.e. it pre-dates the 21 October 2026 session but is not contemporaneous with it.
PrimaryEurostat Statistics Explained — Electricity price statistics"For Irish household consumers, the per kWh cost was 40% above the EU average price, whereas households in Hungary, Malta and Bulgaria paid less than half the [EU average price]" — data for the second half of 2025.