The Gift at the Gate

Abstract

In four countries in Eurostat's energy accounts that meter data-centre electricity (Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Iceland), those accounts hold only part of it, in almost every year tested, in the software-and-information line, where one would look, and do not say where the rest is; in Ireland, inside their electricity total, generation plus net imports. No published account sets that draw against what it supports. Net of estimated office use, the line missed about a fifth of Irish data-centre electricity in 2023, a quarter to a third of the Dutch in 2018–2022, none to about a fifth of the Norwegian in 2024 on Statistics Norway's revised account (a fifth to two-fifths as published) and almost all the Icelandic in 2022. Irish data centres took 77% of net metered-electricity growth in 2015–2025; the gap grew about 1 TWh in 2021–2023. Hosts admit them mainly on grid capacity: claimants on flows shared with organic life, whether or not they think. Three mechanisms can keep the draw in other lines: ancillary booking, which ESA 2010 treats inconsistently for separate sites; survey units that are businesses, not sites; and allocation keys partly employment-based. None is established. For Ireland the survey-unit mechanism is indicated, a lag or key not excluded. The thesis proposes to statistical offices a satellite account (second sheet) of the computing draw by site, beside the organic draw in the same units. Each site would carry its operator's industry and, for colocation, its tenants'. Every other department gets one fundable study.This record contains the thesis (PDF) and the data and the 47 Python scripts that reproduce every figure and table (gift_at_the_gate_draft59_data.zip; see README.md inside).