Total metered electricity consumption was 28,506 GWh in 2021. This was an increase of 5% between 2020 and 2021.
Median residential metered electricity consumption was 3,594 kWh in 2021. Around 10% of residential customers consumed less than 1,000 kilowatt hours in 2021 (see Table 7).
Large energy users accounted for 23% of metered electricity consumption in 2021 (see Table 1).
Consumption by large energy users increased by 17% between 2020 and 2021 and by 80% between 2015 and 2021.
Urban residential tariff groups consumed 21% and Rural residential tariff groups consumed 12% of total metered electricity consumption in 2021.
Dublin postal districts had the highest proportion of residential consumption in 2021 at 18%, followed by Cork (12%), Dublin county (7%), Galway (6%) and Kildare (5%) (see Table 3B).
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The residential DUoS groups include some small non-residential consumption such as newsagents and farms. The allocation of customers to counties was mainly done by the CSO using the addresses provided. In some cases, these addresses contained placenames only and not the county name. |
| Non-Residential | Urban Residential | Rural Residential | |
| 2021 | 19.2 | 6 | 3.3 |
| Median consumption | |
| Carlow | 3.787 |
| Cavan | 3.527 |
| Clare | 3.435 |
| Cork | 3.605 |
| Donegal | 2.883 |
| Dublin County | 3.749 |
| Dublin Postal Districts | 3.461 |
| Galway | 3.816 |
| Kerry | 3.318 |
| Kildare | 4.121 |
| Kilkenny | 3.874 |
| Laois | 3.741 |
| Leitrim | 2.929 |
| Limerick | 3.591 |
| Longford | 3.483 |
| Louth | 3.512 |
| Mayo | 3.196 |
| Meath | 4.038 |
| Monaghan | 3.589 |
| Offaly | 3.816 |
| Roscommon | 3.146 |
| Sligo | 3.338 |
| Tipperary | 3.676 |
| Waterford | 3.621 |
| Westmeath | 3.857 |
| Wexford | 3.751 |
| Wicklow | 3.985 |
| Not Coded | 2.387 |
| Consumption size class | |
| 0<50kWh | 45.33 |
| 50<100kWh | 12.514 |
| 100<500kWh | 68.259 |
| 500<1,000kWh | 84.643 |
| 1,000<2,500kWh | 453.037 |
| 2,500<5,000kWh | 840.055 |
| 5,000<7,500kWh | 399.43 |
| 7,500<10,000kWh | 136.114 |
| 10,000kWh + | 106.807 |
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Statistician's Comment
Commenting on the release Niamh Shanahan, Statistician in the Environment and Climate Division, said: "Total metered electricity consumption was 28,506 GWh in 2021, which was an increase of 5% on 2020. Large energy users accounted for 23% of metered electricity consumed in 2021 - this category comprises a small number of customers such as the largest data centres and the highest electricity consumers in other business sectors such as IT and cement manufacturing. Consumption by large energy users increased by 17% between 2020 and 2021.
Non-residential consumption was 67% of total metered electricity consumption in 2021, while Urban residential and Rural residential tariff groups were 21% and 12% respectively. On a quarterly basis, Tables 2A and 2C show that the main seasonal variation was in the residential sector with 30% of consumption in 2021 in the first quarter compared with 21% in the third quarter. Dublin postal districts had the highest proportion of residential consumption in 2021 at 18%, followed by Cork (12%), Dublin county (7%), Galway (6%) and Kildare (5%). Counties with dwellings using electricity as their main space heating fuel as well as the total number of meters are the main underlying factors determining residential demand.
Tables 4A and 4B show that Dublin 15 at 15% and Dublin 2 at 11% had the highest proportion of non-residential electricity consumption in 2021 for the Dublin postal districts area. Dublin 15 (10%) and Dublin 24 (8%) were the postal districts with the highest proportions of residential electricity consumption among the Dublin postal districts. Tables 5A to 5E show median residential electricity consumption by year, quarter, county, and Dublin postal district. January to March had the highest median consumption. Donegal (2,883 kWh), Leitrim (2,929 kWh), and Roscommon (3,146 kWh) had the lowest median residential consumption in 2021 while Kildare with 4,121 kWh had the highest figure.
The number of non-residential electricity meters increased from 274,094 in 2015 to 290,384 in 2021 while the number of residential electricity meters increased by around 106,000 in the same period. Electricity consumption can be used as an indirect indicator of vacant and holiday dwellings. Around 10% of residential customers consumed less than 1,000 kilowatt hours in 2020 which was well below the median of 3,594 kilowatt hours."