Dublin, Tuesday, July 22nd 2025
Today, ESB welcomes the announcement by our majority shareholder, the Government of Ireland, of an equity investment of €1.5bn in support of ESB Networks plans to deliver up to €13.4bn of capital expenditure during the Price Review 6 (PR6) period, covering 2026–2030.
The proposed PR6 capital expenditure programme aims to build on and accelerate the significant progress achieved across the electricity network over the past five years during PR5. Similar to trends in other international electricity network companies, it is proposed that PR6 will be over twice the size of the previous capital programme, whereby ESB will have invested over €5bn in networks infrastructure between 2021 and 2025.
ESB Networks Business Plan for PR6 aims to enhance the electricity network in order to support economic growth, increased housing, improve resilience and reliability of electricity supplies and enable delivery of a decarbonised energy system on Ireland’s Path to Net Zero. This is aligned with the Government’s National Planning Framework, Housing for All, the National Development Plan and the Climate Action Plan.
The Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU) has recently published the Draft Determination for PR6. A ten-week consultation period has now commenced, with the final determination expected later in 2025. ESB Networks is committed to working with CRU and all stakeholders to achieve a final price control that enables the investment required to deliver an electricity network that supports Ireland's future social and economic development, its decarbonisation and the needs of our customers.
Further significant capital investment will be required in the electricity network beyond 2030 to achieve Ireland’s ambitions.
This equity investment from our shareholder will create value for the Government as shareholder, benefit the economy and benefit customers into the future. It will sustain the resilience of ESB’s Balance Sheet and credit metrics and maintain confidence in international investors regarding ESB and its PR6 capital expenditure programme. This will be particularly important as ESB looks to raise significant additional funds in the international capital markets to fund the expanded capital expenditure programme over the coming years.
For more information, please see link to ESB Networks PR6 Business Plan executive summary here
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