Understanding your bill and electricity data

The importance of learning about your bill

Busy families and domestic users may think they can’t control their energy costs, but that’s not the case. As the old saying goes, you can’t manage (or reduce) what you don’t measure. This is very appropriate to managing energy. Managing energy costs in your home starts with understanding your bill.

The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) is Ireland’s independent energy and water regulator. CRU have a useful Bill Explainer guide on their website.

All suppliers must include certain information on your electricity bill to make it clear and easy to understand. Not all suppliers’ bills will have the information located in the same place. The usage information is found on page 2 of the bills from most suppliers.

Aspects of your bill you can control

The number of units (kWh) of energy consumed.

• The number of units you consume (kWh) are read from your meter. If you have a smart meter this will be an actual reading and not an estimate. Meaning you only pay for the units actually consumed.
• If you don’t have a smart meter yet, your meter reading may be read manually, estimated, or you can read your own meter and submit the reading at a time in your billing cycle indicated by your supplier.

The unit rate (€) per kWh of energy consumed.

• Unit rate is as per your contracted tariff with your supplier. These are usually 12-month contracts at a fixed, or variable unit rate.
• If you have not changed your tariff in the last 12 months, there is a chance your unit rate or discount has changed. You can check if other suppliers can offer you a better price. CRU guide to Switch your energy supplier.
• There are regulated price comparison websites that make the process very straightforward.

You can’t manage the ‘standard charges and other items’ on your bill, such as Standing charge, PSO levy and VAT as these are set by the regulator and government.

• Standing charge is an annual charge that varies slightly for different suppliers. This is charged at a daily rate for the billing period of each bill.
• The Public Service Obligation (PSO) levy is imposed by the Government on all final electricity customers and appears as a line item on your electricity bill. It is used to recover the cost of generating electricity from specified sources, like sustainable, renewable, and indigenous.
• VAT Value added tax, added at a rate of 9%

Smart Meter Data

When you have a smart meter, you will have access to the detailed consumption data to understand your use patterns and habits. Smart meters record your electricity use every 30 minutes.

Your electricity bill will tell you how much energy you consumed in a bi-monthly billing period. Your smart meter will tell you how much you used, and when you used it, at 30-minute intervals.

These records show how much and when you use electricity at different times of the day in your home.

Smart meter records are available to view & download through your free ESB Networks account.

• When you sign up to a smart tariff, ESB configure your meter to send 30-minute interval meter readings to your chosen electricity supplier. Suppliers use this information to develop smart services - enhanced insights and advice tailored to your usage pattern.
• If you remain on a standard tariff, your usage data is shared bi-monthly with your supplier.

When you have a smart meter you can control time of use as well as how much you use in kWh, this allows you to avail of lower cost electricity off-peak and overnight, reducing your overall costs and CO₂ foot print.