Every energy discount in Ireland lasts twelve months.
Not most of them. Every single one in our catalogue, across every supplier. Which means every household on a discounted plan is on a clock, and rolls off onto standard rates a year after signing, usually without noticing.
The shape of it
Two ways of writing it, one outcome.
Some suppliers state a discount that runs for twelve months. Others state one that runs for the length of the contract, and the contract is twelve months. The wording differs; the cliff is in the same place.
The word “loyalty” in a plan name does not change this. Neither does the absence of an end date on your bill.
One supplier softens the drop. Bord Gáis states that after twelve months you keep a 5 per cent discount if you pay by direct debit and use paperless billing. That is a smaller cliff than most, not the absence of one: the step from 26 per cent to 5 per cent is still most of the way down.
What rolling off costs
Between one and one and a half euro a day.
The larger discounts in the market are worth 10 to 13 cent per kWh once you work them back to a rate. At average household usage of around 4,200 kWh a year, that is roughly €440 to €540 annually.
a day on standard rates after the discount ends, on average usage.
Some plans carry a welcome credit on top of the discount — €30 to €120 with Electric Ireland, €200 with Yuno Energy. That is a first-year figure too. A plan that looked cheapest when you signed up can be well down the list in year two once both the discount and the credit have gone.
Nothing happens on the day it ends. No letter arrives, the supply does not change, and the difference only shows up in a bill that arrives weeks later. That is why people lose months to it.
Exit fees in proportion
The fee is usually smaller than the delay.
Where an exit fee applies it is typically €50, and €100 with some suppliers. Set against €1.20 to €1.50 a day of foregone discount, a €50 fee is recovered in about five weeks and a €100 fee in about two months.
So the fee is a cost to weigh, not a wall. The common mistake is sitting out several months of standard rates to avoid a charge worth a few weeks of them. Do check your own terms, because fees and contract lengths vary and some suppliers charge per month remaining rather than a flat amount.
Timing the switch
Err late rather than early.
The risk is lopsided. A few days late costs you a euro or so a day. A day early can trigger the full exit fee. You would have to be more than a month late before lateness cost you what one day early does.
Switching is not instant either. There is a fourteen day cooling-off period, and completion is generally quoted at anywhere from ten working days to four weeks, so the exact date is not in your gift. Applying about ten days before your end date means even a fast switch lands on or after it.
The practical bit
Put the date somewhere you will see it.
A calendar reminder eleven months after you signed up is the whole trick. Everything else in this guide is arithmetic you only need if you missed it.
When the date comes round, our electricity prices and gas prices pages show every plan on the market with the discount and any credit already in the annual figure.
Discount durations and fee levels are as published by each supplier and were last checked in July 2026. Terms change without notice, so confirm yours before acting.