Irish fuel and mortgage costs add 2,141 euros a year for one example household
An RTÉ calculation puts one example Irish household’s annual extra cost since late February at 2,141 euros across diesel, heating oil, electricity, gas and a tracker mortgage. Diesel has risen from about 1.70 euros to 2.15 euros a litre. The European Central Bank rate increase reaches about 100,000 tracker mortgages in October; the example is not an estimate for every household.
Economics & Markets··Midday
Diesel and heating oil have climbed since February
RTÉ calculated how several household costs in Ireland changed from the end of February to September. Diesel rose from about 1.70 euros to 2.15 euros a litre, a gain of roughly 45 cents. Petrol, also near 1.70 euros at the starting point, was about 2 euros at many pumps, around 30 cents higher. The pump prices already reflect temporary excise cuts of 32 cents a litre for diesel and 27 cents for petrol; those cuts did not erase the rise paid by drivers. At the end of February, 1,000 litres of home-heating oil cost about 970 euros. Recent weeks put that same fill near 1,616 euros, or about 646 euros higher. The price had reached 1,771 euros early in April and fallen to 1,155 euros in July, so the current comparison is not a steady month-by-month climb. RTÉ’s example household uses 1,500 litres a year and puts the annual heating-oil difference at 969 euros.[1]
Electricity and gas add to the household bill
Ireland’s statistics agency, the Central Statistics Office, reported August wholesale electricity prices 77 per cent above August 2025. Nearly half of the country’s electricity is generated from gas, whose wholesale price was twice its level a year earlier in RTÉ’s account. Wholesale moves and household bills are different measures: since March the principal retail suppliers have lifted electricity and gas tariffs by roughly 8 per cent at the low end and 11 per cent at the high end, much less than the wholesale electricity comparison. An average annual electricity bill rises by 180 euros and gas by 140 euros in bonkers.ie’s estimates, a combined 320 euros. These are bill estimates within RTÉ’s calculation, not a statement that every household consumes the same amount of energy or has the same supplier. They sit beside the transport and heating-oil assumptions in the example, and the overall figure describes a defined household case.[1]
The tracker reset reaches October payments
The European Central Bank’s main refinancing rate reached 2.65 per cent, up from 2.4 per cent, the second quarter-point increase this year. About 100,000 Irish tracker mortgages move with that rate. For an outstanding balance of 100,000 euros, RTÉ puts the monthly repayment increase at about 26 euros when the September rate change reaches the October instalment. Compared with May, the two increases add 312 euros to a year of repayments on that balance; existing fixed-rate loans do not take the same October step. RTÉ’s worked example assumes 20,000 kilometres of annual driving at six litres per 100 kilometres. It assigns 540 euros of extra diesel cost, 969 euros for heating oil, 320 euros for electricity and gas, and 312 euros for the tracker mortgage. The parts total 2,141 euros a year. The figure describes that particular combination of driving, fuel use and mortgage balance; a home without a tracker loan or heating-oil use has a different cost path.[1]
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