The charts below show ESB Connections across the country. They show the total number of all ESB Connections historically from 1970 up to 2020 (the most recent figures available); ESB Connections by housing sector including private housing, local authority housing and voluntary housing; and ESB Connections by connection type including new dwelling completions, reconnections and non-dwellings.
Importance
ESB Connections have been used by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage as a proxy for housing completions for many years. However, what has become clear most notably emerging from the 2008 financial crisis is that this data does not exclusively refer to housing completions but also new connections and reconnections to the electricity network. This data should not be interpreted as the number of new housing completions but rather as the number of ESB Connections.
