Government must give energy regulator the power to rein in data centres
Government must give energy regulator the power to rein in data centres - The Labour Party
- Give the energy regulator the power to demand clean energy and limit greenhouse gases from data centres, and help reduce everyone’s energy bills.
- Labour’s Electricity Regulation Bill 2025 comes before the Dáil at Second Stage this Thursday.
Labour climate and environment spokesperson Ciarán Ahern TD has called on Government to support Labour’s Electricity Regulation Bill 2025 when it comes before the Dáil at Second Stage this Thursday. The Bill would give the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU) the legal power to demand fully renewable on-site generation and storage from data centres and other large energy users, helping to protect household bills and Ireland’s climate targets.
Deputy Ciarán Ahern said:
“The CRU recently said it did not have the legal power to require data centres to meet all their energy demand via renewables and thereby limit their emissions. Labour’s Bill closes that legal gap. Government now has a chance to give the regulator the tools it says it needs.
“This matters to every household paying an electricity bill. Data centres have driven the vast majority of the growth in Ireland’s energy demand over the past decade. Their power use stays high around the clock, including when families and businesses need electricity most. That extra demand can’t always be met by renewables so it makes expensive gas generation necessary more often. When gas sets the wholesale price for electricity, households pay more.
“A study published this year estimates that data centre demand added €715 million to household electricity bills between 2015 and 2023. That is a staggering cost for families already struggling with the cost of living. The same research warns that further expansion could push costs higher still.
“Data centres now consume almost a quarter of Ireland’s electricity. Yet the CRU’s rules allow large energy users six years to continue business as usual, and after that they only have to source 80% of their energy from new renewable generation. Obviously, allowing 20% of the massive energy demands of Data Centres to come from fossil fuels will result in a massive increase in Ireland’s emissions, pushing our legally binding climate targets ever further out of reach. We cannot keep increasing demand for gas and claim we are trying to meet our climate targets. My Bill would change that.
“Families also face the cost of expanding the grid to meet growing demand. The tech companies driving that demand must take responsibility for the pressure they place on our energy system. Labour has called for a moratorium on new data centres until we can be sure their growth will not strain the grid, raise household bills or derail climate action.
“Government must support this Bill on Thursday. It must give the CRU the power to insist that large energy users generate clean power, cut emissions and pay their way. Households should not have to carry the cost of unchecked data centre expansion.”
Labour’s Electricity Regulation Bill 2025 is available here: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/bills/bill/2025/72/