Energy Procurement for Irish Nursing Homes and Care Centres
Nursing homes and residential care centres run a load profile unlike almost any other commercial premises — round-the-clock heating, nurse call systems, commercial kitchens and laundry, with no overnight drop-off. We review contracts against that reality, not a generic SME tariff template, and for groups running more than one site, we build the single page of portfolio-wide contract visibility that most operators have never had.
Why Care Homes Are Different
Why Care Homes Are Different From Other SMEs
A Flat, 24/7 Load Profile
Corridor lighting, nurse call systems, heating held at 21–23°C around the clock, commercial laundry running from early morning and a working kitchen — there is no overnight drop-off to build a tariff around. The half-hourly and time-of-use assumptions baked into a standard SME comparison simply don't fit this profile, which is exactly why a generic switch offer can look better on paper than it performs in practice.
Occupancy Capped, Usage Stable
A centre's HIQA registration sets a hard ceiling on the number of residents it can care for, which means consumption doesn't swing the way it might in retail or hospitality. That stability is a genuine argument for committing to a longer fixed term with confidence rather than re-tendering every twelve months.
Capacity Bands That Have Drifted
Larger centres commonly exceed 50 kVA of Maximum Import Capacity, which places them in the DG6/LVMD category rather than DG5, with capacity charges and per-kVA PSO treatment that a straightforward SME comparison won't flag.
Extensions Leave a Second Connection Behind
Buildings that have added a new wing or dementia unit often carry a second MPRN for that extension — sometimes on a different tariff, sometimes with a different supplier, and frequently left untracked once the building work is finished.
Rural centres are often off the natural gas network entirely and run on oil or LPG instead. We say this plainly upfront — if gas isn't part of your site, we won't try to sell you a product that doesn't apply.
Capacity Charges: The Fix That Doesn't Need a Switch
Every electricity connection has an amount of capacity reserved for it — the maximum load the network guarantees you can draw at any moment. You pay a standing charge for that headroom whether you use it or not. In the industry this is called Maximum Import Capacity, or MIC, and it's set once, at the point of connection.
The problem is that it's rarely revisited after that. A centre that has added a wing, upgraded its kitchen, or installed additional medical equipment since the original connection was sized is often still paying for capacity based on a building that no longer exists in that form — usually more than it needs, sometimes less than it should have.
This is also why it doesn't fix itself over time. The network operator sets your capacity band when the connection agreement is signed, and that classification stays fixed regardless of how the building's actual demand changes afterwards. A centre that has extended since then isn't automatically moved onto the right band — it stays on the old one until someone applies for the correction.
Correcting a misaligned MIC does not require changing supplier. It's a standalone review of what your connection is rated for against what your building actually draws. For more detail on how the DUoS group and MIC threshold work — see our breakdown of DUoS groups and the MIC threshold.
Multi-Site and Group Operators
Roughly half of all beds in the Irish nursing home sector sit inside multi-site groups — and in most of those groups, each centre is held in its own limited company with its own energy contract, its own supplier, and its own end date. Nobody has ever put those side by side on one page.
That's the gap our free portfolio review service closes: one document listing every site, its current supplier, its contract end date, and its unit rate, so a group can see its whole energy position at a glance instead of chasing it site by site.
Once that visibility exists, contract end dates can be aligned so future renewals become one negotiation across the group instead of a dozen separate ones spread across the calendar.
How It Works
Four steps, and "no change recommended" is a genuine, valid outcome — not a sales pivot.
Letter of Authority
A short, standard document authorising us to request your account data directly from your supplier. No commitment attached.
We Pull the Data
Current rates, MIC settings, contract end dates and consumption history, gathered directly from your supplier for every site involved.
Written Findings
A plain-English report of what we found — including, where that's the honest answer, that there's nothing worth changing.
You Decide
The decision to switch, correct MIC, or do nothing is entirely yours. The client pays nothing at any stage — we're paid commission by the supplier.
Voluntary and Charitable Operators
A significant share of registered providers in this sector are religious congregations, trusts and companies limited by guarantee, governed by voluntary boards that meet on a monthly cycle rather than an executive team that can sign off on the day. We work within that: a written findings report that a board can review and act on at its own pace, not a same-day decision under pressure.
For a trustee board, the framing is straightforward — money saved on capacity charges or a better rate is money that can be redirected to resident care rather than sitting in a utilities line that was never revisited.
Get a Free Bill Review for Your Centre
Running more than one site? Ask about a full portfolio review instead — no cost, no obligation, in writing either way.