By Eva Brendel | Updated on Oct 07, 2026 at 01:13 PM
The surge in electricity demand from data centers is raising questions over who should bear the cost of the grids and reliable generation needed to serve them, according to RWE AG.
Europe urgently needs to expand its power grids to decarbonize and cope with rising electricity demand. The challenge is how to fund that investment without saddling households and businesses with more of the cost, particularly as power-hungry data centers increase the need for new infrastructure.
“If you have more demand, you need more grid build out and you need more firm capacity,” Markus Krebber, chief executive officer of German energy firm RWE, said in a Bloomberg interview on Wednesday. “This is currently not paid by those who are causing the problem.”
“That is why we need to look at who bears the cost of the grid build out required to meet this additional demand, rather than spreading those costs across all consumers,” Krebber said.
The issue is becoming more pressing as Europe seeks to attract investment in artificial intelligence and data centers while simultaneously spending heavily to overhaul its electricity system.
Grid fees, which are added to consumer bills, pay for building and maintaining the physical power network, upgrading infrastructure to connect renewable energy sources, and managing day-to-day operational and policy costs.
The US, where data-center development is far more advanced, offers a glimpse of the tensions that could emerge. The boom there has drawn opposition amid concerns that households and businesses are subsidizing the infrastructure required to power AI through higher electricity bills.
Read more: US AI Boom Needs $110 Billion of New Power Plants, Moody’s Says
There is also a potential impact on wholesale electricity prices. Data centers are willing to pay more for power which could put pressure on consumers and energy-intensive industries competing for the same supply, Krebber said.
A recent deal between between Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Nordic utility Fortum Oyj, shows how tech companies are willing to pay a premium to secure long-term power supplies. Google is estimated to be paying €80 per megawatt-hour under the agreement, about 57% above 2030 electricity futures of €51 per megawatt-hour, according to research firm Inderes.
Europe has yet to experience the same impact on power prices as the US, where concerns over the effect of rapidly growing data-center demand have intensified.
RWE has also sought to capitalize on the boom. Last year it sold a former coal-fired power plant site in the UK to Amazon.com Inc. and has identified more than 10 sites across Europe that could be developed and sold.