Your Export Data Has Vanished from ESB Networks

A blank export chart on your ESB Networks account is usually a display problem, and display problems cost you nothing. The one that costs you money is different, it is invisible on that same screen, and ESB Networks says in writing that it is never corrected. If your meter goes unread for eight days, your real export readings are replaced with a flat estimate before they ever reach your supplier, and the true figures do not come back to overwrite it. Knowing which of the two you are looking at decides whether you do nothing or pick up the phone.

Two Different Problems That Look Identical

Everything on the My Consumption page of your ESB Networks online account is a view of your meter data. Your export credit is calculated somewhere else entirely, from the readings ESB Networks passes to your electricity supplier. The two can disagree, and they do.

That distinction is the whole article. A missing chart means the view broke. A missing reading means the data that decides your payment was never collected, and something else was sent to your supplier in its place.

Ireland got a large demonstration of the first kind in June 2026. Export data stopped displaying in ESB Networks online accounts from 25 May, and the Irish Independent reported that more than 200,000 households with solar panels feared losing payments for what had been an exceptionally sunny stretch. ESB Networks described it as a technical issue, an IT maintenance problem, and told the paper's personal finance editor that the smart meter data existed and was simply not displaying on the My Consumption page, with billing and micro-generation data unaffected. Some homeowners whose data came back still reported gaps on individual dates.

The Five Causes, Ranked by What They Cost You

ESB Networks publishes the reasons data goes missing on its own support pages. Here they are with the consequence attached, which its pages do not spell out.

The fourth row surprises people. ESB Networks states that updating personal details with your electricity supplier, such as the name on the account or a new mobile number, may result in online account services no longer being accessible for your MPRN, and that this is remedied by updating name and mobile details within the online account and relinking the MPRN. If your data disappeared the same month you changed a phone number, that is almost certainly why.

On the third, ESB Networks is equally clear: you can access services related to an MPRN while you are its registered legal owner, and if you have recently moved in you will only see data from the day you became the registered customer.

The Eight-Day Rule, and Why It Is One-Way

This is the part almost nobody knows, and it is published in ESB Networks' own micro-generator FAQ.

Where ESB Networks cannot read your meter to record smart export quantities over a period of eight days, it provides deemed export quantities to your supplier in their place. Deemed quantities are an estimate calculated from a formula, not a measurement of what your panels actually sent to the grid.

Then comes the sentence that matters: ESB Networks states that the design of the interim micro-generation scheme is such that deemed export quantities will not be replaced by actual values. So where deemed quantities have been sent to your supplier, there will be a discrepancy between the data used to pay you and the data recorded on the smart meter or in your downloadable ESB Networks files, and that discrepancy is permanent.

Put plainly: the meter can recover, the chart can refill, and the money still does not. Your own HDF download will show one number and your credit will be based on another, for ever, and both are working as designed.

ESB Networks also confirms the reverse scenario in the same FAQ, for people who assume a smart meter means metered payment every month. You can have a smart meter and still be given deemed export on some days, because the eight-day substitution applies whenever the read fails. Your supplier knows which days these were and can explain them.

Why Losing a Week in June Is Not the Same as Losing a Week in December

The deemed calculation does not know what month it is. It is a flat rate, the same every day of the year.

The formula comes from CRU decision paper CRU202454 and is your Maximum Export Capacity multiplied by a capacity factor and an export factor. ESB Networks publishes the factors it applies as 0.097 and 0.35 as at August 2023, and points customers to CRU guidance for the current figures, since both are subject to change. Spread across the hours in a year, that works out at roughly 297 kWh for each 1 kW of registered export capacity, which is the same derivation used on our smart meter and export and microgeneration pages.

For a 4 kW registered capacity, that is about 1,190 kWh a year, or roughly 3.3 kWh a day, in January and in July alike.

Now compare that against a real seasonal pattern. Our winter performance page models a Dublin 4 kWp system generating 495 kWh in May against 137 kWh in December, and on its stated export assumptions that is about 297 kWh exported in May versus 21 kWh in December. Those split assumptions are estimates rather than measurements, and your own house will differ, but the shape is the point.

A month is the extreme case and an eight-day gap is the realistic one, but the direction never changes. Deemed under-pays in the months your panels earn and over-pays in the months they do not. An outage in late May, which is exactly when the 2026 display fault began, sits at the worst possible point in the year. Current rates by supplier are on our Clean Export Guarantee rates page.

How to Check Whether You Were Actually Paid for It

The chart is the wrong place to look. Do this instead.

1. Download the file, not the graph. Your ESB Networks online account provides Harmonised Downloadable Files in CSV, including 30-minute readings in kW, 30-minute readings in kWh, a daily snapshot of day, night and peak usage in kWh, and a daily snapshot of total usage and export data. Two years of history is available, and it follows you through a supplier switch.
2. Find the export column. ESB Networks reports consumption and export separately in those files, so the export figures are there even when the on-screen chart is not cooperating.
3. Pull your export statement. Suppliers handle this differently. Citizens Information notes the exported amount is generally shown on your electricity bill, though some suppliers issue a separate statement. Flogas, for instance, credits every two months and states on each statement whether the credit was based on metered or deemed quantities.
4. Compare the two for the same period. A gap between your HDF total and your credited units is the signature of deemed substitution. It is not a billing error, and asking for it to be recalculated will not work, but it tells you exactly what happened.
5. Look for days that are suspiciously identical. Deemed is flat. Real export is never flat.
6. Read it off the meter itself. Electric Ireland publishes the key sequence: press the left blue button on your smart meter seven times until A- appears in the top right of the screen, and the display shows the units you have exported. No portal, no login, no outage can take that away from you.

One thing that catches Electric Ireland customers in particular: the company states plainly that export data is not shown in its own online account, and points customers to an ESB Networks online account to see it. Its appliance itemisation uses import data only, so for a solar home those insights will not reflect what the house actually did. The exported units appear on the bill, in line with your billing cycle, and that bill is the figure that counts.

Who to Contact, in Order

Ringing the wrong organisation is the standard way to lose a fortnight here, and the split is not intuitive, because the company that reads your meter is not the company that pays you.

ESB Networks says it directly: ESB Networks DAC is not responsible for the purchase or sale of any electricity, and that is a matter for a customer and their supplier. On micro-generation consumption queries specifically, it tells customers to consult their electricity supplier, who has sight of the export data through daily uploads. ESB Networks engages with suppliers through a dedicated support team and says it may support escalated export consumption issues through that route, which means your supplier can push it up the chain in a way you cannot from outside.

• Missing or wrong export credit: your electricity supplier. Always first.
• Micro-generation connection, MEC or NC6 questions: ESB Networks at networkservicesbureau@esb.ie.
• Meter setup, or asking for a smart meter: ESB Networks general enquiries on 1800 372 757 or +353 21 238 6555. If you previously declined a smart meter and have changed your mind, ESB Networks lists 1800 928 123 or 01 698 5005.
• A copy of the NC6 your installer says they sent: email networkservicesbureau@esb.ie with your MPRN, contact details, the installer's email address, how it was submitted and the date.
• Unresolved after the supplier: the CRU.

Escalating to the CRU

The Commission for Regulation of Utilities runs a free dispute resolution service, and micro-generation is squarely within what it handles. Its Customer Care Team opened 580 complex energy complaints in 2024 and closed 444, and it lists billing, smart metering and micro-generation among the common complaint types across the sector.

You have to complain to your supplier first. The CRU only takes cases from customers who have already been through the supplier's own process and are unhappy with the outcome. Every supplier is required to publish a Code of Practice on complaint handling setting out its timelines.

The CRU's advice on doing it properly is worth following: put the complaint in writing by post or email, ask for a complaint reference number, send copies rather than originals, and keep a note of who you spoke to and when, including any promises to call you back. Decide what outcome you want before you start.

Two practical points. If your complaint is a billing dispute, your supplier must pause collection activity on the disputed amount while the CRU investigates, although later bills still have to be paid on time. And the CRU aims to resolve complaints within 90 days but says it is currently handling large volumes and taking longer than it would like, so start early rather than waiting to see whether the next credit fixes itself.

When the Data Is Fine and the Export Is Just Low

Sometimes nothing is missing and the number is simply smaller than expected. Two causes are worth ruling out before you complain about anything.

Your inverter is tripping on high voltage. ESB Networks explains this one at length. Ireland runs on a nominal 230 V, and under normal operating conditions the voltage at your connection point can rise to 253 V, which is 10% above nominal. Where a lot of homes in an area export at once and local demand is low, the local low-voltage network voltage rises. Your inverter monitors this continuously under European standard EN 50549-1 and responds by reducing output or switching off. ESB Networks states that the upper voltage protection trip level shall not exceed 269 V for more than 70 seconds, at which point the inverter must disconnect.

Occasional tripping on very sunny days is normal and expected. Frequent or prolonged tripping is not: ESB Networks says to have your installer check the system configuration, wiring and Irish protection settings first, and if the installation is confirmed as within standard you can request a voltage assessment through your ESB Networks online account. Do not let anyone change the inverter protection settings, which ESB Networks says must not be altered without its prior permission.

Your bill was estimated. ESB Networks notes that if communication with your smart meter fails for any reason, an estimated meter read is provided to your supplier, and that estimate is not shown on your online account. That is a genuine, documented reason for the account and the bill to disagree without either being broken.

If your generation itself is down rather than your export, that is a different diagnosis: our guides to solar inverters and panel maintenance cover the hardware side, and winter performance covers the seasonal drop that is supposed to happen.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is my solar export data missing from my ESB Networks account?

ESB Networks lists three reasons data can be missing or short: you must be the registered customer of the MPRN to see it, so after a house move you only see data from the date you became registered; a newly installed smart meter takes up to 30 days to establish its connection to ESB Networks' secure communications network before it is read automatically; and there can be intermittent periods where ESB Networks loses connection with the meter, caused by telecommunications network maintenance, a physical obstruction or bad weather. Separately, updating your name or mobile number with your supplier can cut your online account off from your MPRN until you update those details in the account and relink it.

Was I paid for the electricity I exported during the ESB glitch?

ESB Networks characterised the June 2026 outage as a technical or IT maintenance issue affecting the display of data rather than its collection, telling the Irish Independent that the smart meter data was there and was not showing on the My Consumption page, and that billing and micro-generation data were unaffected. Export data had not been displaying since 25 May 2026 and the paper reported more than 200,000 solar households were concerned. Check the credit on your own statement for that period against your downloaded meter files rather than relying on the general reassurance.

What does deemed export mean on my bill?

It means you were paid on an estimate rather than a measurement. ESB Networks provides deemed export quantities to your supplier where it cannot read your meter to record smart export quantities over a period of eight days. It is also the standing arrangement for homes that are not eligible for a smart meter under the current rollout. Your supplier's statement should tell you which basis a given credit used.

Will ESB Networks correct a deemed export figure once my meter comes back online?

No. ESB Networks states that the design of the interim micro-generation scheme is such that deemed export quantities will not be replaced by actual values, and that this is why there can be a discrepancy between the data used to pay you and the data recorded on your smart meter or in your ESB Networks downloadable files.

How much is the deemed export estimate?

It is calculated using a CRU formula, set out in decision paper CRU202454, of Maximum Export Capacity multiplied by a capacity factor and an export factor. ESB Networks publishes the factors it applies as 0.097 and 0.35 as at August 2023, and advises customers to refer to CRU guidance for the applicable figures as both are subject to change. Across a full year that is roughly 297 kWh for each 1 kW of registered export capacity, so about 1,190 kWh a year for a 4 kW registered capacity, spread evenly across every day of the year.

Should I contact ESB Networks or my supplier about a missing export payment?

Your supplier. ESB Networks states that ESB Networks DAC is not responsible for the purchase or sale of any electricity and that this is a matter between a customer and their supplier, and it directs micro-generation consumption queries to the supplier, who receives the export data through daily uploads. ESB Networks works with suppliers through a dedicated support team and may support escalated export consumption issues through that channel, so your supplier is also the faster route back into ESB Networks.

What can I do if my supplier will not fix it?

Complain in writing to the supplier first and get a complaint reference number, because the CRU only accepts cases that have already been through the supplier's own complaints process. Then bring it to the CRU, whose dispute resolution service is free. If the dispute is about a billing amount, your supplier must pause collection activity on the disputed sum while the CRU investigates, though subsequent bills still have to be paid by their due date. The CRU aims to resolve complaints within 90 days but says it is currently taking longer than it would like.

Can I download my own solar export readings?

Yes. ESB Networks provides Harmonised Downloadable Files in CSV format through your online account, covering 30-minute readings in kW, 30-minute readings in kWh, a daily snapshot of day, night and peak usage in kWh, and a daily snapshot of total usage and export data. Consumption and export are reported separately. You can view up to two years, and it does not matter if you changed supplier in that period. ESB Networks states that only you have access to your smart meter data.

Why is my export lower than my inverter app says I generated?

Generation and export are different numbers, and the gap is whatever your house consumed while the sun was up. Beyond that, ESB Networks documents a specific cause of reduced output on bright days: when many homes in an area export at once and local demand is low, network voltage rises, and your inverter reduces output or disconnects to stay within the limits set by EN 50549-1. Ireland's nominal voltage is 230 V and can reach 253 V under normal conditions, with the upper protection trip level not exceeding 269 V for more than 70 seconds. Occasional tripping on very sunny days is expected. If it is frequent, ESB Networks says to have your installer verify the configuration and Irish protection settings, after which you can request a voltage assessment through your online account.