4.4.1 Electricity costs and data centre location

Latvia

38 Lithuania 32 Luxembourg 136 Malta n/a Netherlands 126 Poland 41 Portugal 72 Romania 25 Slovakia 54 Slovenia 71 Spain 108 Sweden 152 UK 108 Source: Eurostat. 2016. Total labour costs for telecommunications workers (FTE) in 2012 in businesses with 10 or more employees lc_ncostot_r2 Data last updated on 25th May 2016

4.4.1 Electricity costs and data centre location Figure 28 provides an overview of electricity prices per kilowatt-hour in EU Member States for larger industrial consumers. The average cost per kilowatt-hour in EU28 Member States is 0.0649 euros per kilowatt-hour. Highest prices are recorded in the UK (0.1288 euros per kilowatt-hour) and Ireland (0.0844 euros) where prices are 98 per cent and 30 per cent above the EU average, respectively. Cheapest prices are found in Sweden (0.0344 euros) and Finland (0.0429 euros), which are 53 per cent and 66 per cent of the EU average, respectively.

When choosing where to locate or expand their operations, energy costs are a much more important consideration for data centres than they would be in a conventional business. But as noted earlier electricity is only approximately 17 per cent of annual operational costs at the Google data centre in Mons, Belgium. Thus while there are significant differences in electricity costs these might be overshadowed by higher personnel costs that constitute much of the remaining approximate 80 per cent of operating costs.