‘Hidden datacentre tax’ costing Irish households millions, report says

Datacentres Use 22 Percent of Ireland's Electricity, Pushing Up Household Bills

A new report says that datacentres in Ireland have been adding hundreds of euros to household electricity bills.

Ireland's growing number of datacentres used 22 percent of the country's electricity last year.

This is more than all homes in Irish cities combined.

In comparison, datacentres in the United States and the United Kingdom use only about 6 percent.

The report was commissioned by Friends of the Earth Ireland and Beyond Fossil Fuels.

It found that datacentres have drained 715 million euros from the Irish economy between 2015 and 2023.

During this period, household bills increased by an average of 360 euros because of growing energy consumption by the infrastructure.

The report argued that Irish households have been subsidising big technology companies through a hidden tax on their bills.

Jill McArdle, from Beyond Fossil Fuels, said that the Irish case should be a warning for all of Europe.

She explained that letting big technology companies expand datacentres without controls will have serious effects on household bills across the continent.

She also warned that this situation, combined with fossil gas use, is driving up energy prices for people who are already struggling.

However, representatives from the datacentre industry have disputed these findings.

They said that the sector has boosted the Irish economy in many ways.

The Irish government has also broadly welcomed the expansion of datacentre infrastructure.

Officials have called datacentres a core part of Ireland's technology-rich economy.

The government denies that datacentres create a hidden tax on consumers.