*In an interview with The Clare Echo, Minister Darragh O’Brien (FF) voiced his criticism of ESB for the price hike.
ESB’s decision to hike charging prices for electric vehicles has been criticised by the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment.
Last month, ESB who are the biggest electric vehicle (EV) public charging chain in the country, increased prices by fourteen percent. The move now means that pay-as-you-go rapid public charging in Ireland has now overtaken the cost of using petrol or diesel for most vehicles.
Standard pay as you go rates will rise from 64c and 66c per kWh to 72c and 73c per kWh, a rise of between ten and fourteen percent, depending on the charging speed and the method of payment. For the first time, it will make contactless card or phone payments more expensive than in-app payments at public terminals.
With more than 1,600 public chargers, ESB runs the biggest public charging network in Ireland. “Continued increases in energy and operational costs” were cited by ESB for the decision to put up prices.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment, Darragh O’Brien (FF) expressed his frustration with ESB’s move to hike prices. “I’m disappointed with the price increase I’m going to be very honest with you. We’re seeing a very significant uptake in EVs, we’ve now about 247,000 EVs on our roads, we’re seeing double the amount of registrations in the first five months of this year when we compare with last year, we’ve seen the scrappage scheme close in twenty minutes, that is good and a lot of people do charge at home and we have home charging grants.
“To be straight, the increase that we saw I’m not overly happy with it, I don’t think it sends a good signal, we’re investing in EV charging right across the country, we’re seeing energy prices across Europe go up, ESB manage their costs and prices independently of me but I would not like to see further increases in the short-term. We’re trying to build the infrastructure, we’ve about 3,600 public charging points right across the country, I’m committing to increasing that by thirty percent and if we’re doing that we want it to be seen to be as affordable as it can be, recognising the fact and we all know the energy situation because of what has been happening in the Middle East, we want things to normalise and as they normalise I want to see prices come down”.
One week prior to ESB’s move, Ionity which operates high-speed 350kW chargers at Circle K filling stations, hiked its prices to 85c per kWh on a pay-as-you-go-basis, making its fuel charging significantly more expensive than petrol or diesel at the pump.
Sales of EVs are up 54 percent for the first six months of 2026, according to figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry, EV sales are up 54pc this year. Hybrid cars still lead the new car market with 26 percent of sales, electric cars come next on 23 percent, followed by petrol on 21 percent, plug-in hybrid at fourteen percent and diesel at thirteen percent. Earlier this year, the Government announced a new scheme where it will grant up to €8,500 to people who scrap an older, petrol or diesel car and buy an EV.
