Paul Stapleton, Executive Director, Group Finance and Commercial, provides an insight into our 2025 annual accounts.
ESB has published its annual results for 2025, with robust financial performance providing the basis for a record €2.7 billion investment in critical energy infrastructure. While our profit after tax of €636 million was €70 million lower than 2024 – reflecting the unprecedented impact of Storm Éowyn at the year’s outset – we made strong progress on delivering a sustainable and resilient energy system for the customers and communities we serve.
Delivering cleaner energy
2025 saw ESB make major strides forward towards our target of reaching net-zero emissions by 2040. Our portfolio of renewables and renewable-enabling technologies has grown to over 2GW, as we launched our first wholly owned solar farm in Bullstown, Co. Meath, and began commercial operation of our first offshore wind farm Neart na Gaoithe in Scotland (a joint venture with EDF).
We ended the use of coal at our Moneypoint station in mid-year, which contributed to a fall in the carbon intensity of the electricity generated by ESB to 314g CO2e/kWh – a 53% reduction on the reference year of 2005. This momentum is set to continue into 2026, with the announcement in November that ESB and Ørsted had secured the rights to deliver 900MW of offshore wind through the Tonn Nua project off Ireland’s south-east coast.
In 2025, ESB Networks connected over 650MW of renewable generation to the grid and processed more than 47,000 microgeneration installations, adding a further 230MW of solar capacity. This led to a new milestone being reached in March of this year, as the renewable energy enabled by the Irish electricity network passed 8GW for the first time.
Thanks to the progress we are making towards net zero, our energy system is not only cleaner but also becoming less reliant on imported fossil fuels – increasingly important in an unpredictable geopolitical environment.
Delivering resilient infrastructure
Our work to expand and future-proof our network infrastructure accelerated in 2025. An aggregate of €1.7 billion was invested by ESB Networks and NIE Networks in electricity networks over the course of the year. ESB Networks also secured approval in 2025 for an investment programme of over €13 billion over the Price Review 6 period 2026-2030. This will support a growing population and economy in the years ahead, allow connection of greater volumes of renewables, and strengthen the resilience of the network in the face of increasingly frequent extreme weather events.
A total of 51,000 new connections were delivered by our two networks businesses, supporting housing and economic development across the island of Ireland. ESB Networks also passed the milestone of 2 million smart meters installed, giving households across the country greater insight into and control over their own energy use.
Delivering for customers and communities
In 2025, we continued our commitment to empowering customers and communities to live more sustainably. Our energy supply business Electric Ireland provided residential customers with home EV chargers, solar PV systems and battery storage solutions, while ESB Smart Energy Services supplied industrial heat pump and solar installations for business clients. ESB ecars supported Ireland’s transition to e-mobility as it concluded a multiyear €23 million joint investment programme with the Government’s Climate Action Fund, which saw over 55 new EV charging hubs installed and hundreds of charging points upgraded or replaced.
Customers have faced significant rises in the cost of living in recent years, and international events have led to volatility in wholesale energy prices which remain at higher levels than before the 2022/23 energy crisis. Following cumulative price reductions of 19% in electricity and almost 20% in gas in 2023-24, Electric Ireland reduced gas prices by a further 4% in 2025 and was able to maintain electricity prices for its 1.1 million residential customers last winter. We remain very mindful of the burden that continued elevated energy prices place on customers and are committed to doing everything in our power to support them.
Delivering for future us
Our results underline ESB’s continued commitment to investing in Ireland. We contributed a total of €3.4 billion to the Irish economy in 2025 in the form of payroll, taxes, dividends and purchases from domestic suppliers. For every €1 in profit after tax earned last year, we invested €4 in the critical infrastructure that will enable the sustainable energy transition.
Our programme of capital investment is only set to grow in the years ahead, forecast at around €20 billion over the next five years with up to €16 billion of this directed to electricity networks on the island of Ireland. It is our strong financial performance that allows us to continue delivering what’s needed for a clean, secure and affordable energy system – for future us.
Read our press release here, and download the Annual Report here.