New SBCI research* shows nine in ten Irish SMEs now rank energy and transport costs among their biggest risks. For hardware retailers and builders’ merchants, the instinct is often to reach for a quote on solar PV panels or change to a new supplier. A more useful starting point is understanding exactly where the money is going.
According to the SBCI’s SME Outlook Report 2026, 91% of Irish SMEs now identify rising energy and transport costs as a key risk, up sharply from 68% a year earlier. Material costs were flagged by 86% of respondents. As each business has a different tariff, building and consumption patterns, a useful first step is understanding what the business is actually spending, when, and why.
Why energy costs remain volatile
Ireland imports most of what it burns. SEAI’s First Look: Ireland’s Energy Supply and Security of Supply 2025 note, shows imports met 78.2% of Ireland’s energy requirement in 2025, almost 93% of it from fossil fuel. When international oil and gas prices move, Ireland feels it directly.
There is progress: renewable energy hit a record 15.9% of total energy requirement in 2025, and solar PV supply grew 50% on 2024 and 150% on 2023. But more renewables on the grid does not reduce volatility overnight. What lands depends on a business’s supplier contract, renewal date, regulated network charges, and its own consumption pattern.
Understand the bill before changing the building
Before any decision on supplier, efficiency or generation, it is worth understanding what makes up your bill:
– The unit rate, and whether it is fixed, variable or market-linked
– Standing charges and regulated network charges
– Contract end date and renewal terms
– Day, night and peak consumption split
– Maximum Import Capacity (MIC) and whether it still matches actual usage
– Maximum demand and any capacity-related penalties
– Total annual consumption, VAT treatment, and whether multiple meters serve the site
– Additional unit charges often described as I-SEM charges.
The cheapest quoted unit rate is not automatically the lowest annual cost. An MIC that no longer matches the site, or standing charges that have crept up, can outweigh a lower headline rate.
What the consumption profile reveals
A monthly bill shows how much was spent. It does not show when or why. Interval data, such as half-hourly readings, can reveal a baseload running day and night regardless of trading hours, sharp peaks tied to specific equipment, and seasonal swings, a bill cannot. Common culprits include out-of-hours lighting, yard and security lighting, space heating, compressors, workshop machinery, forklifts on charge, EV charging and equipment left energised overnight. A small independent shop, a merchant with a large yard, and a multi-branch retailer will each have a genuinely different profile; there is no single “typical” reading.
This is where visibility tools earn their keep. Some energy suppliers now offer monitoring platforms, such as Pinergy’s Acutrace, giving businesses interval-level visibility of their own consumption. They help
identify potential cost savings.
When solar PV may make commercial sense
A full feasibility study needs to include not just the roof structure, but also energy consumption (daytime demand), ownership of the building, funding options, a workable grid connection and a reasonable match between generation and on-site use.
SEAI’s Non-Domestic Microgen Grant (NDMG) supports systems up to a maximum of €162,600. A grant offer is required before work starts, the installer must separately apply to ESB Networks beforehand, and the project must complete within eight months of the offer.
Batteries: use data, not assumptions
Batteries are increasingly bundled with solar quotes, but the economics do not automatically follow. They can add value by capturing otherwise-exported solar electricity, shifting consumption to cheaper periods, managing demand peaks, or providing limited backup where specifically designed for it. Against that sit capital cost, conversion losses, degradation, cycling limits, forgoing export income, and tariff dependence, and the gap between rated capacity and usable energy. Many standard commercial batteries will not automatically keep a premises running during an outage. A battery should be modelled against a business’s own consumption data, generation estimates and tariffs, not added simply because solar is going in.
Conclusion
There is no single energy answer that suits every hardware business. A small independent shop, a busy builders’ merchant and a multibranch retailer each face a different combination of tariff, building and operating pattern, and each deserves a unique response.
What holds across all of them is the order decisions should follow. Efficiency, supply contracts, solar PV and storage are parts of one energy strategy, and the right mix depends on evidence and analysis. The businesses best placed to manage future energy costs will not necessarily be those that invest the most in technology. They will be those that understand where their energy is going, how they control it, and which interventions produce a measurable commercial return.
For further information visit http://www.pinergy.ie.
*Link for SBCI: SME Outlook Report 2026, Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI), 2 September 2026.
https://www.sbci.gov.ie/news/sme-outlook-report-2026
