Electricity suppliers should modernise to offer customers price plans that allow them to save money, change consumption patterns and reduce emissions.

That’s the call from the Climate Change Advisory Council, who are today launching their annual review of the electricity sector.

Council chair Marie Donnelly told Newstalk Breakfast that the group is concerned customers are not able to access the information needed to pick the best plan.

“For example, in Ireland now we have rolled out smart meters, which really haven’t cost people any money,” she said.

“Now to use the data from that, it allows people to see what their consumption pattern is and then feed that into the system to get the best tariff.

“The best tariff might be what’s called a time of use tariff, you might have a day rate, a peak time rate and a night time rate or it might be a new one, it’s called a dynamic tariff.”

Ms Donnelly said this model "actually reflects the price of electricity in the wholesale market".

Energy Bills and Smart Meter, United Kingdom. Image: Simon Belcher / Alamy. 19 September 2022

She also said this approach has been rolled out across multiple European countries, but such a system is still not in place in Ireland.

“We’re really calling on the regulator to push the energy suppliers, but also the comparison websites to modernise,” she said.

“The accredited websites at the moment are still talking about the old-fashioned system and haven’t allowed for things like people who might have a heat pump, people who might have an EV, because the electricity consumption pattern is very different.

“To modernise all of that so that people can get the best deal for what they’re going to pay money for.”

According to Ms Donnelly, this could lead to savings of up to 35% for consumers while also reducing emissions.

Main image: Woman looking at bills