Irish businesses paid the highest electricity prices in the European Union in the second half of 2025. Eurostat put the average for medium-sized business users in Ireland at €25.52 per 100 kWh, about 39% above the EU average of €18.37. The pressure is felt locally too: in Dublin Chamber's Q2 2026 Business Outlook Survey, more than half of businesses said they were moderately or highly concerned about energy costs.
Energy Matters Ireland, a Dublin 8-based energy adviser at the Guinness Enterprise Centre, says the unit rate is only half of any energy bill. The other half is how many units a business uses, and that is the part it controls most directly. The firm is encouraging businesses to start with an SEAI-supported energy audit before deciding where to spend.
Under SEAI's Support Scheme for Energy Audits, a business that spends at least €10,000 a year on energy, uses less than 2.8 GWh (10 TJ) a year and employs fewer than 250 people can claim a €2,000 voucher towards a professional audit. SEAI's guidance, updated in October 2026, states that the voucher covers the entire cost of the audit in most cases.
The report goes further than the bill. It shows where electricity, gas, oil and fleet fuel are being used across the site, identifies the equipment and processes driving the cost, and ranks the measures that would reduce it by cost and payback. The first savings are often operational rather than capital: heating and cooling running outside trading hours, lighting without controls, or refrigeration and compressors left on when nothing needs them.
The audit also opens the door to funding. Since 6 October 2026, SEAI's Non-Domestic Microgen Grant pays up to 45% of the cost of commercial solar PV, with grants of up to €325,200, for applications made before 6 July 2027. On 12 October, SEAI raised support for commercial heat pumps that replace fossil-fuel heating, and for solar thermal, to the same 45%, with maximum grants of €270,000 and €70,000. For businesses with 1 to 50 employees, the Local Enterprise Office Energy Efficiency Grant pays 75% of eligible equipment and controls, up to €10,000, and a completed SEAI audit (or an equivalent report) is a condition of applying.
Steve King, CEO of Energy Matters Ireland, said: “A business can negotiate a better rate, but it can’t negotiate away energy it doesn’t need. The audit shows exactly where the money is going, and at 45% the grants make it far easier to act on what it finds. A project wasn’t feasible two years ago may well be now.”
He added that the order of decisions protects the funding. “Measure first, choose the project second, and wait for SEAI’s approval before any work starts. The 45% is a maximum, not a guarantee. SEAI pays the lower of its size-based grant or 45% of the final invoice, so the numbers need to be run on the actual site.”
Larger energy users should check their position separately. Businesses averaging more than 2.8 GWh (10 TJ) of energy a year must carry out a mandatory energy audit under the EU Energy Efficiency Directive and cannot use the SEAI voucher.
Energy Matters Ireland works with businesses on three connected areas: reducing energy use, securing the grants that fund the work, and planning how and when they buy energy. Businesses can check whether they qualify for the audit voucher and the grants by sending a recent energy bill to the team through www.energymattersireland.ie