German data centers have the highest electricity costs in Europe

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Taxes, levies and network charges six times higher than in the Netherlands and Sweden
Electricity costs account for around half of operating costs
Data centers in Germany have to pay the most for electricity in Europe. The costs are up to six times higher than in neighboring countries. This is the result of a price analysis by the digital association Bitkom, which compared the ancillary electricity costs. According to the analysis, data center operators in Germany paid 113.11 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) in taxes, duties and network charges in 2019.

The cheapest prices are in the Netherlands at 17.08 euros per MWh - that's just 15 percent of the costs in Germany. Close behind is Sweden (17.70 euros per MWh) followed by Finland (21.97 euros). In France (29.31 euros) the additional electricity costs for data centers are also very low and are around a quarter of the German value. Great Britain (67.01 euros) is half and Italy three quarters (82.89 euros).

"The very high electricity costs compared to Europe are a decisive location disadvantage for German data centers. Taxes, levies and network charges account for around 70 percent of the electricity costs, which in turn often amount to half of the total operating costs," says Bitkom CEO Dr. Bernhard Rohleder.

While the basic prices for electricity are quite similar across Europe, the additional costs from levies, taxes and network charges are set by politicians. The biggest price driver in Germany is the EEG levy. Unlike other energy-intensive sectors, German data centers are not exempt from this.

"Data centers make a major contribution to financing the energy transition and have continued to increase their energy efficiency in recent years. In order to become even more climate-friendly, politicians should provide incentives, for example by pricing based on the individual CO2 emissions of electricity generation," says Rohleder.

"In the interest of climate protection, data center operators must and want america gambling data to continue to improve their energy balance. At the same time, politicians must take into account the strategic importance of data centers for digital sovereignty and improve the location conditions, otherwise more and more capacity will migrate abroad."

Bitkom supports the goal of achieving digital sovereignty and is committed to fair conditions for German data centers and their international competitiveness . Rohleder: "Our proposal is to revise the relevant guidelines and laws at European and national level and to examine the extent to which at least particularly climate-friendly data centers can be relieved of electricity tax and other charges."

Data centers are a crucial economic factor and driver of digital transformation in Germany. 130,000 people work at the German locations, and a further 80,000 jobs depend indirectly on the industry. The Internet economy, which relies on functioning data centers, generates annual sales of more than 100 billion euros in Germany alone.



Note on methodology: The figures are based on data from data center operators and Eurostat. The costs stated include all taxes, duties and network charges in the respective country on average over a year for a data center operator in euros per megawatt hour (MWh).

The costs do not include the regular energy price, which is traded on the market and varies depending on the purchase date and purchasing strategy. In Germany, the total electricity price is currently around 40 percent higher than the costs shown. The costs in the United Kingdom were converted into euros at the average exchange rate for the respective year.