AI data centers: why your electricity bill can climb

On June 3, the European Commission released minimum energy efficiency standards for data centers, these immense server warehouses that power the cloud and AI. The timetable is not trivial: their installed capacity in Europe must increase from 12 to 28 gigawatts by 2030, more than double. And they already account for more than 2.5% of the electricity consumed in the EU. The problem is what's missing.

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Because a sustainability label, supposed to cover water consumption and the origin of electricity, was to be released on the same day. It did not appear. According to TheNextWeb, relayed by Clubic, the Commission is still stuck on one point: how to deal with nuclear-powered installations. The rest of the “technological sovereignty” package is there, with a cloud and AI regulation and a revision of the Chips Act.

Ireland, the textbook case that scares Brussels

To understand the urgency, look at Ireland. In 2024, its data centers will consume 22% of national electricity, more than all the country's urban homes combined. No other Member State is there.

Since the end of 2021, network operator EirGrid has only granted one new connection, and a third data center Google has had its permit refused due to lack of capacity. Brussels cited this blockage to justify acting quickly, before “these challenges” become unmanageable.

France is not immune. The consumption of its data centers has jumped by 38% in three years, including 70% in Île-de-France, and RTE expects a multiplication by 4 to 8 by 2035. Work cited by the Commission suggests a possible increase in electricity prices of 20 to 40% in very densified areas, including Paris. In the United States, further ahead, bills have already increased by 20% in states like Ohio and Virginia. The problem is that efficiency standards do not create additional megawatts: they make the machines less greedy, not the network larger.

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And that's where it gets stuck for us. The text of June 3 speaks of efficiency, period. No mechanism to distribute the bill between operators and households, no binding timetable before a simple “needs assessment” in 2027.

Meanwhile, the InvestAI program plans five AI gigafactories of one gigawatt each, representing the annual consumption of more than 700,000 homes per site.

As long as no one decides who pays, the risk of households being asked to slow down during rush hours to let the AI ​​run is not theoretical.