The percentage share of total metered electricity consumption used by data centres rose to 23% in 2025 from 5% in 2015 (See Table 1).
Metered electricity consumption by data centres increased by 10% in a single year, rising from 6,973 Gigawatt hours (GWh) in 2024 to 7,663 GWh in 2025. Consumption by all other users, including residential and other business customers, went up by 2% over the same period (See Table 1).
Quarterly tracking from 2015 to 2025 reveals that data centre electricity consumption grew from 291 GWh in Q1 2015 to 1,991 GWh in Q4 2025 (See Table 2 and Figure 2).
Total metered electricity consumption rose by 34% between 2015 and 2025 (See Table 1).
Large Energy Users, which includes significant data centres, accounted for the largest overall share of total consumption at 33% in 2025. Their annual usage rose 9% since 2024 to reach 10,812 GWh (See Metered Electricity Consumption 2025 release).
Total residential consumption of electricity, including both urban and rural dwellings, accounted for 28% of usage, compared with 23% by data centres (See Infographic and Metered Electricity Consumption 2025).
As data centres are not separately classified in the source data the CSO uses various approaches to identify them including name searches for known data centre operators, information from industry reports and internet searches, and examination of high consumption customers to determine the business sector they are in. See the Background Notes for more information.
| X-axis label | Data Centres | Other Metered Customers |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1240 | 23360 |
| 2016 | 1482 | 23874 |
| 2017 | 1762 | 23963 |
| 2018 | 2182 | 24548 |
| 2019 | 2490 | 24015 |
| 2020 | 3030 | 24025 |
| 2021 | 4012 | 24493 |
| 2022 | 5273 | 24551 |
| 2023 | 6339 | 24242 |
| 2024 | 6973 | 24930 |
| 2025 | 7663 | 25324 |
| Table 1 Metered Electricity Consumption 2015-2025 (GWh) | ||||
| Gigawatt hours | % of Total | |||
| Year | Data Centre | Other Metered Customers | Total | % Data Centre |
| 2015 | 1,240 | 23,360 | 24,600 | 5 |
| 2016 | 1,482 | 23,874 | 25,356 | 6 |
| 2017 | 1,762 | 23,963 | 25,725 | 7 |
| 2018 | 2,182 | 24,548 | 26,730 | 8 |
| 2019 | 2,490 | 24,015 | 26,505 | 9 |
| 2020 | 3,030 | 24,025 | 27,056 | 11 |
| 2021 | 4,012 | 24,493 | 28,506 | 14 |
| 2022 | 5,273 | 24,551 | 29,824 | 18 |
| 2023 | 6,339 | 24,242 | 30,581 | 21 |
| 2024 | 6,973 | 24,930 | 31,903 | 22 |
| 2025 | 7,663 | 25,324 | 32,986 | 23 |
While households drive massive seasonal spikes in the winter months (Q1 and Q4) due to heating and lighting, the data centres consumption tends to increase with every quarter, with a slowdown in first quarter of the year, as was observed in 2024 and 2025,
| Table 2 Data Centres Metered Electricity Consumption by Quarter 2015-2025 (GWh) | |||||
| Gigawatt hours | |||||
| Year | Jan-Mar | Apr-Jun | Jul-Sep | Oct-Dec | Total |
| 2015 | 291 | 304 | 316 | 329 | 1,240 |
| 2016 | 341 | 361 | 386 | 395 | 1,482 |
| 2017 | 407 | 433 | 450 | 472 | 1,762 |
| 2018 | 491 | 527 | 574 | 591 | 2,182 |
| 2019 | 578 | 601 | 638 | 672 | 2,490 |
| 2020 | 691 | 722 | 766 | 852 | 3,030 |
| 2021 | 922 | 987 | 1,035 | 1,069 | 4,012 |
| 2022 | 1,194 | 1,287 | 1,336 | 1,457 | 5,273 |
| 2023 | 1,497 | 1,554 | 1,625 | 1,663 | 6,339 |
| 2024 | 1,659 | 1,692 | 1,793 | 1,830 | 6,973 |
| 2025 | 1,821 | 1,894 | 1,956 | 1,991 | 7,663 |
| X-axis label | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 291 | 304 | 316 | 329 |
| 2016 | 341 | 361 | 386 | 395 |
| 2017 | 407 | 433 | 450 | 472 |
| 2018 | 491 | 527 | 574 | 591 |
| 2019 | 578 | 601 | 638 | 672 |
| 2020 | 691 | 722 | 766 | 852 |
| 2021 | 922 | 987 | 1035 | 1069 |
| 2022 | 1194 | 1287 | 1336 | 1457 |
| 2023 | 1497 | 1554 | 1625 | 1663 |
| 2024 | 1659 | 1692 | 1793 | 1830 |
| 2025 | 1821 | 1894 | 1956 | 1991 |
For additional information please see Background Notes.
A dedicated release on Metered Electricity Consumption 2025 is available for further reading.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (07 July 2026) published Data Centres Metered Electricity Consumption 2025.
Commenting on the release Dr Grzegorz Głaczyński, Statistician in the Climate and Energy Division, said: "Newly compiled quarterly figures spanning 2015 to 2025 highlight a substantial increase in metered electricity consumption by data centres. Over this period, data centre consumption saw a significant increase, from 291 GWh in the first quarter of 2015 to 1,991 GWh in Q4 2025, growing by 584% (See Table 2 and Figure 2).
Data centre electricity consumption grew by 10% in 2025 compared with 2024. Consumption by all other users, including residential and other business customers, increased by 2% over the same period (See Tabe 1).
Data centre consumption has grown every single year without exception, more than doubling between 2015 and 2019 from 1,240 GWh to 2,490 GWh, and tripling again between 2019 and 2025, reaching 7,663 GWh (See Table 1).
Parallel data on nationwide power usage indicates that data centres expanded their share of overall metered electricity from 5% in 2015 to 23% in 2025. For comparison, 2025 consumption stood at 18% for urban households and 9% for rural households (See Table 1, Infographic and Metered Electricity Consumption 2025 ).”