Quarter of households in arrears on gas bills

However, the number of households in arrears fell in January compared to December as the Government’s latest energy credit applied to all bills.

Consumers cannot look forward to this support in future after Taoiseach Micheál Martin last month said there were no plans for another energy credit or more cost-of-living packages in the next budget.

In January, there were 237,053 domestic electricity customers in arrears and 163,537 domestic gas customers in arrears.

This was a significant drop from 268,555 electricity customers in arrears in December. However, it was also almost 30,000 more customers than the 208,899 in arrears in the same month in 2024.

Looking at the situation over recent years, while the proportion of electricity customers in arrears has remained static, the number of household gas customers in arrears has moved steadily upwards.

The amount by which customers are in arrears has also increased in recent years.

In January 2022, the average customer in arrears on electricity in arrears owed €311 while the average gas customer owed €154.

This peaked at €456 for electricity customers in January 2024 and at €218 for gas customers before falling slightly.

Last month, Mr Martin indicated that the kinds of energy credits and cost-of-living supports that had become a hallmark of recent budgets would not feature again this year.

No cost-of-living package this year

“We’re not going to have a cost-of-living package this year, that’s the Government view,” he said.

“We will endeavour, through the budget, through the various mechanisms we have from social protection to tax, to help people. But inflation has come a way down.”

While inflation has fallen from the heights it reached during the surge in the cost of living following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, statistics from the CSO show households are still facing much higher increases in the likes of insurance and rents when compared with general inflation.

“There are 28,000 more households in energy debt this January when compared to January last year, an increase of 12%,” said Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan.

“Compared to January 2023, there are 53,000 more households behind on their energy bills. While it is welcome that the actual amount of debt that households are in appears to have fallen slightly when compared to last year, it’s still over 20% higher than previous years.

“These figures come at a time when the Government is apparently planning to remove what little supports are in place for people, and ESB has announced a profit of over €700m.

“The Government should ensure that profit is used to provide relief to hard-pressed households who continue to struggle with the eye-watering cost of energy, which is the second highest in Europe.”