Thursday, 13 August 2026

 Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (12:14): (1416) My question is for the Minister for Energy and Resources: has the government received any modelling regarding the potential impact of energy demand and prices from existing and proposed data centres?

 Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Minister for Energy and Resources, Minister for Environment, Minister for Climate Action, Minister for the State Electricity Commission) (12:14): I thank Dr Mansfield for her question. As I said yesterday, Victoria currently has around 54 data centres, which use approximately 3 per cent of our state energy supply. We know that the number of data centres will grow rapidly over the next decade, but your question asks about whether we have modelled the future ones.

Because I have not got a number of what those would look like, that is not something that can be modelled. However, in relation to the federal government’s announcements in relation to ensuring that new data centres have particular requirements around bringing their own energy, that modelling would obviously be impacted by those developments, which I have got to say have been welcomed and supported by the data centre industry.

 Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (12:15): I appreciate that response. I will take it that you are not aware of any modelling that has been done about potential future impacts on the energy grid and prices. In Ireland, annual household electricity bills have increased by hundreds of euros, and that has been directly attributable to the growth in data centres there over the past five to 10 years. Data centres now use around a quarter of that country’s energy. The proposals in Victoria are for hyperscale data centres, which use vastly greater amounts of energy than the existing ones. Can you rule out a similar increase in power prices for Victorians as a result of increased data centre electricity demand over the next five years?

 Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Minister for Energy and Resources, Minister for Environment, Minister for Climate Action, Minister for the State Electricity Commission) (12:16): Dr Mansfield, as I indicated in my response to your substantive question, the federal government’s announcements, consistent with the principles here in Victoria of data centres bringing their own energy and indeed producing energy, is where the technology is headed. It is where the conversation is. So your question is a hypothetical question, which is something that everybody is committed to avoiding in relation to an impost on energy prices for Victorians.