Mayo pensioners 'paying almost twice as much for unit of electricity than a data centre'

Pensioners living alone in Mayo are paying almost twice as much for a unit of electricity than a data centre.

This, according to Deputy Paul Lawless, is despite the fact many data centres are part of the wealthiest corporations in the world.

The Knock-based TD hit out: "The demand from data centres is driving up the cost of electricity.

"In 2024, data centres consumed 22% of electricity in Ireland. That was more than every household in urban Ireland. That is an incredible figure.

"A report recently released by Friends of the Earth shows that, on our current trajectory, data centres will add €1.4 billion to the cost of household electricity in the coming years. That is a hidden data centre tax.

"Every week at my constituency clinic, this is a major issue. Last week, an elderly pensioner came to my clinic and showed me her electricity bill.

"She asked me if it could be real, such was the extortionate level of the amount listed.

"The cost of electricity is a major issue in the cost-of-living crisis. Over 300,000 people are in energy arrears.

"In many cases, these are hard-working people and pensioners. They are really struggling.

"The policy of the government has essentially been to offer energy credits before an election and then abandon them afterwards.

"Data centres are paying about 50% less per unit of electricity. Families cannot understand this and are really frustrated. This is by design, in many respects.

"The trajectory is going to add more costs to households."

Deputy Lawless asked when will the government will introduce legislation to regulate the data centre sector in the context of electricity prices.

He further stated: "If the government is going to make Ireland the data centre capital of Europe, it better have a plan.

"A plan does not mean that ordinary households are subsidising data centres. That is currently what is happening.

"The report to which I refer estimates that the current trajectory in terms of data centres is 22%, and that this is on the rise and is driving up the cost of energy in this country.

"The truth is that this is going to mean an estimated €1.4 billion in additional costs to consumers over the next number of years.

"Ireland has the most expensive electricity prices in Europe. The ESB is profiteering. It made €650 million last year. The CEO of the ESB earns over €300,000.

"Who is the ESB serving? Who is the government's energy policy serving in a situation where data centres are driving up the energy costs for families and paying less per unit of electricity," he added.

In response to his statement, Minister for Finance Simon Harris stated: "It is easy to say that data centres are bad or to make them the bogeyman.

"However, the evidence available to the government is that across the six sectors in Ireland that are identified as being most dependent on data centres, it is estimated that of the order of €100 billion in annual gross value added, 875,000 jobs and €14.6 million in annual employment-related taxes were enabled by data centre capacity located in Ireland.

"It has also been identified that the hyperscale data centres sit at the heart of Ireland's global digital competitiveness.

"It is so easy to come in here to Dáil Éireann and ask us to spend more. It is easy to slice up the pie, but it is a hell of a lot harder to bake the pie and bake a bigger pie in terms of economic success for this country.

"It is also important to say that in the context of the Commission for Regulation of Utilities' large energy user connection policy, we have been very clear that data centres above a certain threshold will be required to meet at least 80% of their annual demand with new additional renewable electricity generated in the Republic of Ireland.

"Government policy firmly aims to enable the twin transitions of digitalisation and decarbonisation. We cannot pick and choose; we have to address both of them.

"We are talking about AI. We are talking how about how we support AI jobs and how we deal with the fact that there is going to be a significant churn in the labour market.

"Data centres play a very important role in having a competitive digital economy. We cannot just dismiss that or ridicule it.

"If we are going to do so, we must at least be honest with the people about the economic and tax impacts that could have on Ireland."