Guide
The smart meter peak rate is not weekday-only.
It runs 17:00 to 19:00 every day, Saturdays and Sundays included. The claim that it applies only on weekdays turns up in a few places and it is worth correcting, because it changes how people plan their week.
The bands
Day, night and peak on a standard smart tariff.
A three-band smart tariff in Ireland prices the day from 08:00 to 23:00, night from 23:00 to 08:00, and carves a peak band out of the day between 17:00 and 19:00. None of the suppliers we track attach a weekday qualifier to that peak band.
The evidence
One supplier prices a weekend peak explicitly.
SSE Airtricity’s Smart Weekends plan defines a separate “Weekend Peak” band, 17:00 to 19:00, applying on Saturdays and Sundays.
That is the part worth pausing on. A supplier would have no reason to price a weekend peak band if peak did not apply at weekends. It is direct evidence rather than an absence of evidence, which is why it settles the question.
Where the confusion comes from
Weekday-only bands exist. They are just not peak bands.
Some plans do restrict a band to weekdays. Pinergy’s Working from Home tariff has a cheaper rate from 09:00 to 17:00 on weekdays only, which is a real weekday restriction on a real band.
So “weekday-only band” is a genuine feature of the Irish market. It is a discount window, not the peak.
What to do with this
Plan the 5pm to 7pm gap seven days a week.
If you are shifting the dishwasher, the washing machine or car charging away from peak, do it at weekends too. Assuming a weekend exemption that does not exist means paying the peak rate at exactly the time a household is most likely to be cooking.
Bespoke plans define their own hours and vary a good deal between suppliers, so check the terms of the specific plan rather than relying on a general description, including this one.
Band times above are as published by each supplier and were last checked in July 2026. Suppliers change plans without notice.