EU Plans Law to Reduce Household Electricity Consumption

The European Union is developing new legislation that uses artificial intelligence to enable more efficient electricity use. The goal is to balance rising demand driven by industry and AI infrastructure. European power grids are under strain from increasing load.

The European Union plans to introduce new legislation requiring households to reduce electricity consumption, as electricity demand from industry and AI data centres grows explosively and threatens to overload European power grids.

Artificial intelligence as solution

Under the new legal act, artificial intelligence itself will be used to optimise electricity consumption and encourage households to consume electrical energy during low-load periods. This means smart devices could automatically adjust their operating times according to grid load.

According to the EU's assessment, electricity demand growth has accelerated sharply in recent years — both due to expansion in the industrial sector and massive development of data centres supporting artificial intelligence technology. Data centres consume ever-larger amounts of electrical energy, and their number is growing rapidly across Europe.

Grids under pressure

European power grids in their current form are not capable of meeting rising demand without significant investment and consumption management. If action is not taken, it could cause serious problems with energy supply stability, warn energy experts.

The new law aims to make electricity consumption more flexible across Europe to avoid peak-load moments when grids are most at risk. Households will be offered incentives to motivate them to consume electrical energy at night or during periods of low demand.