The Public Service Obligation (PSO) levy, which is applied to electricity bills, is set to decrease for the coming year.

Following a review, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) has determined that a PSO levy of €162.37 million will be required for the 2025/26 PSO year. This represents a reduction of €89.42 million compared to the 2024/25 levy, which stood at €251.79 million.

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The PSO levy is collected from all electricity customers to fund schemes that support Ireland’s national renewable energy policy objectives.

The size of the levy is heavily influenced by wholesale electricity prices. When wholesale prices are expected to be high, less funding is needed from the levy to subsidise PSO-supported generators.

This was the case in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 periods, which led to a PSO payment being made to customers in 2022/23 and the levy being set to zero in 2023/24.

Impact on bills

For the PSO year beginning 1 October 2025, the CRU has set the monthly PSO levy at €2.01 for domestic customers and €7.77 for small commercial customers.

This represents a decrease from the current 2024/25 rates of €3.23 and €12.91, amounting to reductions of 38% and 39% respectively.

Medium and large commercial customers will see the levy fall to €0.96/kVA per month, down from €1.57/kVA, also a 39% decrease.

What is supported

The PSO currently supports the Government Renewable Energy Feed-In Tariff (REFIT), the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) and newly established Small-Scale Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (SRESS) all of which support renewable electricity generation projects.

SRESS, which was launched by the Government in January 2025 supports small renewable energy projects (50 kW to 6 MW) with a 15-year tariff. CRU states that this scheme provides stable revenue for community projects, farms, and Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

However, the scheme has come under sharp criticism for being too low to make projects viable, so the level of uptake remains to be seen.

How much is supported?

The PSO levy currently supports 4,667MW of renewable generation in Ireland.

In June 2025, renewable sources met 38% of the country’s electricity demand.

Record levels of solar generation were measured, included a peak level of 768 MW on 19 June. Similarly, 30% of electricity demand was met by wind generation during the month of June.

Wind farms generated 939 GWh, the highest levels of wind generation ever recorded during the month of June.