{"id":635684,"date":"2026-08-13T21:12:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T21:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/635684\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T21:12:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T21:12:15","slug":"higher-energy-prices-and-rising-rents-increase-cost-of-living-squeeze-for-irish-households-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/635684\/","title":{"rendered":"Higher energy prices and rising rents increase cost-of-living squeeze for Irish households \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Higher electricity prices<\/a>, rising rents<\/a> and a jump in the cost of home heating oil<\/a> continue to drive cost-of-living<\/a> pressures for Irish households.<\/p>\n

The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) put inflation in the Irish economy at 3.4 per cent in July.<\/p>\n

The category that had the biggest impact, accounting for 1.2 per cent of the headline rate, was housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels.<\/p>\n

Private housing rents were up by 4.5 per cent on an annual basis while the cost of mortgage<\/a> interest was up by 10 per cent annually.<\/p>\n

Rising oil prices linked to conflict in the Middle East saw the cost of domestic electricity rise by 8.1 per cent on this time last year while home-heating oil was up by a significant 28 per cent.<\/p>\n

Inflation here has moderated from 3.7 per cent in April to 3.4 per cent last month but uncertainty over whether the US and Iran will agree a peace deal makes the outlook uncertain.<\/p>\n

The figures show the cost of petrol and diesel fell by 4.1 per cent and 6.4 per cent respectively in July as oil prices softened. <\/p>\n

But the costs of these fuels were both up over 3 per cent on an annual basis. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe national average price for a litre of diesel in July was \u20ac1.76, an increase of 6 cent on the same time last year. Petrol prices increased by 5 cent to \u20ac1.77 a litre,\u201d the Central Statistics Office<\/a> (CSO) said.<\/p>\n

The Government is due to unwind cuts to excise duty from next month which will result in further price hikes.<\/p>\n

The reduction in fuel costs in July were partially offset by an increase in the cost of air fares, which jumped by more than 11 per cent.<\/p>\n

The cost of recreation, sport and culture also rose by 2.7 per cent in the month, which was linked to higher package holiday prices.<\/p>\n

The cost of school uniforms was up 0.4 per cent in the month while ladies footwear fell by 7.4 per cent. However the latter was up by 18 per cent over the 12 months to July.<\/p>\n

Food price inflation which has been elevated for several years was up 0.7 per cent (on a 12-month basis) in July.<\/p>\n

The latest CPI figures indicated that consumer prices here rose by 0.1 per cent between June and July. This compared with an increase of 0.3 per cent between May and June.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Inflation holds steady in July as energy prices fellOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The European Central Bank<\/a> lifted interest rates for the first time in nearly three years in June in response to the inflationary environment. With euro zone inflation accelerating to 2.9 per cent in July, another rate hike is expected in September.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite a stabilisation in inflation this month, with the rate holding at 3.4 per cent, inflation will remain a key concern for consumers as we head into the autumn and winter months,\u201d Deloitte Ireland chief economist Kate English said. <\/p>\n

\u201cElectricity prices increased 3.7 per cent in the month, bringing the annual rate of inflation (8.1 per cent) to its highest rate since late 2023. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile energy prices remain elevated, they continue to be significantly lower than 2022 and 2023 levels. That said, as developments continue in the Gulf region and heatwaves persist in Europe, energy price uncertainty will be a key feature for Ireland and Europe this winter,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Gas reserves are also still lower than their average rate for this time of year, she added. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Higher electricity prices, rising rents and a jump in the cost of home heating oil continue to drive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,1412,2190,18,35808,9652,19,17,9650,9951,4097],"class_list":["post-635684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-central-statistics-office","tag-cost-of-living","tag-eire","tag-energy-costs","tag-european-central-bank-ecb","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mortgages","tag-oil","tag-renting"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117090264379801960","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}