REVEALED: Number of power cuts in local Tipperary town rose in 2024
Thurles experienced more power cuts in 2024 compared to 2023
Ireland South MEP, Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, has raised significant concerns about ESB Networks performance in relation to power cuts faced by domestic and business customers across Ireland.
Figures provided to MEP Ní Mhurchú by ESB Networks under Freedom of Information show significant year-on-year increases in power cuts across Ireland between 2021 and 2024.
There were 64,754 power cuts across Ireland in 2024, both planned and unplanned outages.
That is a 22% increase on 2023 where we had 53,067 power cuts.
ESB networks manage their supply in 34 ‘planner groups’ which are loosely related to counties or towns.
Most of Tipperary is covered by three such planner groups: Roscrea, Clonmel and Thurles.
The Thurles planner group recorded a significant 11% increase in power cuts between 2023 and 2024, going from 1,268 in 2023 to 1,410 in 2024.
The Roscrea planner group recorded a decrease of 12.5% in power cuts between 2023 and 2024 but an overall increase in annual power cuts since 2021.
Clonmel recorded a 2.5% decrease in power cuts between 2023 and 2024 but a significant increase in power cuts since 2021.
Between 2021 and 2024, there was a 40% increase in the number of power cuts, both planned and unplanned, across Ireland.
Some areas across Ireland seem more prone to power cuts than others.
Enniscorthy had 2,507 power cuts in 2024, compared to Limerick which only had 737 power cuts in 2024.
Sligo had 3,211 power cuts in 2024, up from 1,973 in 2021.
Letterkenny had 2,258 power cuts in 2024, up from 1,354 power cuts in 2021.
Waterford, Limerick, and Cork had some of the lowest number of power cuts across the grid in 2024.
ESB Networks have provided Ní Mhurchú with a breakdown of power cuts across different counties in Ireland over the past four years.
Ní Mhurchú says it raised questions on the performance of ESB networks and it is having a direct impact on the performance of our rural economy.
ESB Networks also provided MEP Ní Mhurchú with a breakdown of the reasons for the power cuts which included bird strikes, weather issues, lightning, overhead refurbishment, overloading, and corrosion.
Of more concern was the large increase in power cuts which were attributed to ‘defective equipment’
Ní Mhurchú has called on ESB Networks to clarify why there is a 22% jump in power outages across the country between 2023 and 2024.
She has also called for a new system of compensation for householders and small businesses for outages lasting more than 12 hours.
She also said that customers should not be charged for standing charges and levies when the power cut out.
The CRU has raised significant concerns about ESBN’s performance in relation to unplanned outages and customer interruptions, fining the utility millions for missing clearly set down targets.
According to Ní Mhurchú, the ESB is a profitable company that should be prioritising increased investment in our electricity grid.
“My worry is that ESB Networks may be trying to cut costs by not investing in our electricity infrastructure to the extent that they should be. Power cuts have an enormous impact on families, in particular as many homes are now passive homes that depend on heat pumps and don’t have open fires or stoves,” she said.
Ní Mhurchú has described the dramatic increase in the number of power outages as requiring an explanation from ESB Networks,
“Customers deserve an explanation as to why they are facing more power cuts when they are paying the second highest electricity prices in Europe. The least Irish customers deserve is more investment in the infrastructure that delivers that electricity.”
Thurles MD County Councillor Kay Cahill Skehan has said that one resident in the locality has been in contact with her regarding power cuts, following Storm Eowyn, and went on to say that she has not received any contact from the ESB regarding the uptick in power cuts in Thurles at the time of writing.
Following the damage caused by Storm Eowyn earlier this year, power cuts across the country increased massively overnight, with some people going extended periods of time with no power.
Hundreds of thousands of people nationally experienced a loss of power due to the storm in January, with over 100,000 across Ireland still facing cuts towards the end of the month.
Support arrived in Ireland from Austria, Finland, the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands to attempt to aid in the restoration effort, such was the ferocious nature of the storm.
The ESB also bolstered their crews in the west and the north of the country with workers from the south and the east, while also calling upon retirees to come back to assist their efforts.
They also doubled their numbers in the customer contact centre at this time.
The Government has come under pressure over its response to the destruction caused by Storm Eowyn, which put Ireland under a nationwide Status Red weather alert for the first time.
Record-breaking wind speeds saw power cut to more than a million people on the island of Ireland, which has had a knock-on effect on some water supplies, broadband connections and other services.
The Government argued that it was reacting to an “unprecedented” storm and that 333 emergency response hubs supported by the State have been established to help people without electricity.
Generators were offered to Ireland by Poland, Denmark, and Romania, in an attempt to alleviate the pressure that was mounting at the time.
A spokesman for Tanaiste Simon Harris said he had been informed that the Civil Defence was helping to move generators and bring elderly people to hubs, as well as carry out drone surveys to help the ESB.
The Programme for Government includes a pledge to develop an Extreme Weather Event Assistance Scheme, which the Government has indicated it will prioritise.