Ordinary households subsidising tech giants with data centre costs, says Labour

Labour TD and climate spokesperson Ciarán Ahern, has called on the government to support his Electricity Regulation (Climate Action and Connection to Distribution and Transmission Systems) Bill 2025. 

The Dublin South-West TD said passage of the bill would enable the CRU to mandate that data centres generate their own on-site renewable electricity.

Ahern said, “the CRU has reiterated its position that it does not have sufficient powers under the Climate Act to require data centres to generate renewable energy on-site. The Act sets a broad objective but it doesn’t give them clear authority to mandate specific emissions reduction measures. This is a serious and concerning legislative gap that needs to be addressed or else we risk undermining our climate strategy.”

“Data centres are driving our electricity demand through the roof. They now consume more energy than every urban household in the country, and before long they’ll account for more than 30% of Ireland’s total demand.”

“Not only is this stretching our grid’s capacity to breaking point, but it’s costing households. The govermemnt is pouring money into upgrades to deal with this additional demand – which, on the face of it, is welcome – but households are footing the bill through higher network tariffs. Ordinary households shouldn’t be subsidising the energy demands of multinational tech giants.

“The CRU’s decision that data centres will have to generate their own energy is largely positive, but my concern is that they don’t specify that it must be generated through clean, renewable sources. We can’t allow a situation to arise in which new gas infrastructure is constructed in order to serve the needs of Amazon and Microsoft at the expense of our climate goals.

“It’s already the case that data centres are soaking up nearly all of the renewable energy that we do produce, hindering our ability to decarbonise other industries and our transport sector. Requiring that data centres are powered by 80% renewable energy within 6 years doesn’t go far enough, because it will simply further exacerbate this issue unless they are generating enough clean, renewable energy themselves to match their demand.

“We cannot pretend that limitless expansion is compatible with a functioning grid or credible climate action. Our national climate objectives and the protection of households must be built into every part of industrial strategy. Government must now support this Bill and give the regulator the legal tools it needs to insist on renewable on-site generation. It is time to act in the public interest and ensure that data centres contribute to a future that is climate proof, energy secure and fair to the people who ultimately pay the bills.”