Explainer
More than four in five Irish households now have a smart meter. Here is where the rollout stands, how smart and dynamic tariffs work, what it changes for suppliers, and where Northern Ireland has got to.
By Christopher Fagan, Managing Partner, PEF Consulting Partners
ESB Networks installs and operates smart meters in Ireland under the National Smart Metering Programme. It passed two million meters in September 2025, covering more than four in five households in every county, and the programme has since extended to upgrading three phase meters. The meter is ESB Networks’ responsibility, not your supplier’s, so it stays put when you switch.
A standard smart tariff splits the day into three bands: night from 11pm to 8am, a peak from 5pm to 7pm, and day at all other times. Night is cheapest and peak dearest, so households that can move washing, heating or car charging away from the early evening save money. Suppliers also offer their own variations, such as electric vehicle tariffs with cheaper overnight hours, so it pays to check the bands before switching.
Since 1 October 2025, every supplier with more than 200,000 customers has had to offer a dynamic price contract (CRU decision CRU2024121). The price changes every half hour in line with the wholesale day ahead market, suppliers must publish the next day’s prices within two hours of the market results, the dynamic element is capped at 50 cent per kWh, and customers must be able to receive an alert the day before a significant price spike.
Smart metering moves suppliers from billing a handful of readings a year to billing half hourly data, and that exposes weaknesses fast. Billing platforms have to rate time of use and dynamic tariffs accurately, customer service has to explain bills that move every half hour, and data problems that estimates used to hide become visible. Add ESB Networks’ move of the central market system to S/4HANA by the end of 2027, and EU rules on energy sharing still to come, and many suppliers are asking whether their platforms can keep up. See what suppliers must change before 2030 and how we help suppliers in Ireland.
Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK and Ireland still without a smart meter rollout. In April 2026 the Department for the Economy confirmed that NIE Networks will procure and install the meters and the IT systems behind them, and in July 2026 the Utility Regulator released funding for NIE Networks to start planning in earnest. Rollout dates have not yet been announced. When the meters do arrive, Northern Ireland suppliers will need the same half hourly data, tariff and billing capability that suppliers in the Republic are building now.
ESB Networks, under the National Smart Metering Programme. Your supplier does not install it, and the meter stays when you switch.
More than two million as of September 2025, covering over four in five households.
A standard smart tariff has a night rate from 11pm to 8am, a peak rate from 5pm to 7pm and a day rate at other times. Supplier tariffs vary, so check the bands.
A tariff whose price changes every half hour with the wholesale day ahead market. Suppliers with more than 200,000 customers have had to offer one since 1 October 2025.
NIE Networks is planning the rollout following the Department for the Economy’s April 2026 decision, with funding released in July 2026. A start date has not yet been announced.
Related reading: what is an MPRN, half hourly meters explained, Ireland’s 2030 energy targets.
If smart data is exposing billing or data quality problems, or you are deciding whether your platform can cope with time of use and dynamic pricing, we can help you find the weak points before your customers do.