Your Chatbot Has a Very Large Appetite
Every time an AI answers a question, a building somewhere hums, and that building plugs into a wall. The International Energy Agency says data centre electricity use rose 17% in 2025, while global electricity demand grew 3% (International Energy Agency, 2026). Demand from AI focused data centres grew faster still.
The money matches the hunger. Five large technology companies spent over $400 billion in 2025, and their spending is expected to rise another 75% in 2026 (International Energy Agency, 2026). Nobody builds that many data halls for a hobby.
The Real Bottleneck Is Not Intelligence, It Is Transformers
There is good news, because power use per AI task is falling quickly. The bad news is that more use, and energy hungry tools such as AI agents, push the total up anyway (International Energy Agency, 2026). Data centre electricity use is set to double by 2030, and power use from AI focused data centres is set to triple.
| Global electricity demand | 3% |
| Data centre electricity use | 17% |
Supply chains for gas turbines, transformers, advanced chips and other components have tightened over the past year. The growing pipeline of projects is also straining planning and regulatory systems and delaying grid connections (International Energy Agency, 2026).
Who Pays When the Grid Gets a New Roommate
Higher electricity demand does not have to raise prices if policy and infrastructure investment keep up. Data centres still have large, concentrated loads and fast growth, which often require new generation and grid investment, so affordability can suffer (International Energy Agency, 2026).
Tech companies are scrambling for supply. The sector accounted for about 40% of corporate renewable power purchase agreements signed in 2025. Conditional deals between data centre operators and small modular reactor projects rose from 25 GW at the end of 2024 to 45 GW (International Energy Agency, 2026).
IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said there is no AI without energy, and that AI is now also becoming an energy maker through next generation nuclear, flexible data centres and long duration storage (International Energy Agency, 2026).
Nobody builds that many data halls for a hobby.
What You Can Actually Do About It
Power use per AI task is falling, so skip the guilt and use AI deliberately. Ask whether you need the long answer or a quick one, switch off AI features you never touch, and check whether your electricity provider offers a renewable plan. If you invest or run a business, ask where your AI suppliers will get their power. Then ask yourself, which of your daily AI habits would you keep if each one showed up on your power bill? Share this with the friend who asks the chatbot everything.
References
International Energy Agency. (2026, April 16). Data centre electricity use surged in 2025, even with tightening bottlenecks driving a scramble for solutions. IEA. https://www.iea.org/news/data-centre-electricity-use-surged-in-2025-even-with-tightening-bottlenecks-driving-a-scramble-for-solutions
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