Share Energy calls for urgent action on planning policy as energy costs rise and service declines

At Share Energy, we welcome the publication of the Northern Ireland Energy Strategy Action Plan 2025, which sets out 19 key actions designed to accelerate the transition to affordable, renewable energy. However, while policy ambition is important, the reality for Northern Ireland’s electricity consumers is stark—costs keep rising, infrastructure remains outdated, and service quality is not improving.

Despite increasing grid costs from SONI and NIE, consumers have seen little in the way of meaningful upgrades to the network that would enable cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable energy. Instead, bottlenecks in infrastructure investment, slow planning approvals, and policy uncertainty continue to hold back progress. The lack of clear timelines for the revision of the Strategic Planning Policy Statement (SPPS) for renewable and low-carbon energy is yet another example of how delays at policy level are preventing consumers from benefiting from the transition to cheaper, greener power.

Consumers in Northern Ireland deserve better. They should not be footing the bill for a system that prioritises outdated infrastructure over real solutions. Without a clear, ambitious, and immediate update to planning policies, we risk even further delays in bringing affordable renewable energy projects online—keeping households and businesses locked into a system that is failing them.

We urge the Department for the Economy to establish a definitive roadmap for updating the SPPS, ensuring that planning barriers are removed quickly so that new renewable projects can be delivered faster and at lower cost. This is the only way to increase energy security, drive down bills, and protect consumers from being squeezed by rising network charges.

At Share Energy, we put consumers first—from sharing our profits 50/50 with customers to investing in communities and sustainability initiatives. We refuse to accept a future where consumers pay more but get less. We are ready to work with policymakers, industry partners, and consumers to push for a fairer, cheaper, and more transparent energy system for Northern Ireland.