A new report into data centres in Ireland has suggested that their electricity consumption may be resulting in higher energy costs for households.
The modelling exercise, titled, 'The Cost of Data Centres', was carried out for Friends of the Earth and the German based, environmnetal group Beyond Fossil Fuels.
It found the average household may have paid an estimated €360 in additional electricity costs between 2015-2023, due, it says, to the intensity of data centre presence on the grid.
It said while its findings are based on assumptions, the overall trend is clear: "The rapid and inflexible growth in data centre power consumption appears to be increasing wholesale electricity prices for consumers."
It also said that given the "extraordinary volatility of fossil fuel pricing in recent years", and likely in the future, the dependency on gas in the power system combined with high and steadily increasing data centre energy demand makes Irish households further exposed to wholesale electricity cost increases.
The report states that in the last decade, data centres have become a significant feature here, with Ireland having the highest share of data centre power consumption of any country in Europe.
Tánaise urges against portraying data centres as 'bogeymen'
The Tánaiste has urged against portraying data centres as "bogeymen" when it comes to rising electricity prices in Ireland.
Aontú TD Paul Lawless challenged the Government to introduce legislation to regulate electricity prices paid by data centres.
"Today in Ireland, a pensioner living alone or a family pays almost two times more in terms of a unit of electricity than a data centre, despite the fact that many data centres are part of the wealthiest corporations in the world, and the demand from data centres is actually driving up the cost of electricity as well," he said.
"And last year, in 2024, data centres consumed 22% of electricity in Ireland, more than every household in urban Ireland. That is an incredible figure, minister.
"And a report released today from Friends of the Earth shows that on our current trajectory data centres will add €1.4 billion to household electricity (bills) over the next number of years. That is a hidden data centre tax, minister."
Mr Lawless added: "The trajectory is going to add more costs to households.
"So, my question, Tánaiste, is when will you introduce legislation to regulate the data sector electricity in terms of pricing, and when are you going to introduce a sustainable policy in relation to this?"
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Mr Harris insisted the Government was taking steps to help citizens mitigate rising energy costs.
"I'd be interested in your position on data centres, because it's easy to come in and kind of say the data centres are bad or make the data centres the bogeyman," he said.
"But I am the Minister for Finance in this country, and the evidence available to Government is that across the six sectors in Ireland that are identified as being most dependent on data centres, it's estimated that of the order of €100 billion in annual gross value added (GVA), 875,000 jobs and €14.6 billion in annual employment related taxes were enabled by data centre capacity located in Ireland.
"It's also identified that the hyperscale data centres sit at the heart of Ireland's global digital competitiveness.
"So, when I make all these changes that you're calling on me to make in relation to data centres - what do you want to do when we don't have the benefit of the taxes? What do you want to cut? What do you not want to fund?
"Because it's so easy to come in here and ask us to spend more. It's easy to slice up the pie. It's a hell of a lot harder to bake the pie and bake a bigger pie in terms of economic success for this country," Mr Harris said.
Additional reporting PA
