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Regulators on two continents escalated pressure on data centers this week over electricity and water disclosure, as compliance rates in the Netherlands and Texas revealed the same pattern: most of the industry is not reporting.

Netherlands: 44 of 186 Centers Have Public Electricity Data

A year-long investigation by Lighthouse Report, in collaboration with Trouw and other European media, found that fewer than a quarter of large data centers in the Netherlands disclose their energy and water use, despite a binding EU requirement.

The European Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) has required data centers with installed capacity of 500 kW or more to report energy and water consumption for three years. In the Netherlands, the enterprise agency RVO collects that information for the EU. RVO has data for 104 of the 186 qualifying commercial data centers — 44 have public electricity figures, 47 have water usage data.

The numbers that do exist are significant. Dutch data centers consumed 5.1 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2024 — 4.6% of the country’s total, and nearly double their consumption five years earlier. Grid operator TenneT projects data centers will account for 10–15% of Dutch electricity by 2030. That trajectory is already producing real harm: businesses, institutions, and housing developments are on waiting lists for grid connections.

Microsoft’s largest Dutch facility accounts for 1% of national electricity consumption — a figure disclosed not by Microsoft but through a separate RVO release. Google operates two large data centers in the Netherlands and discloses nothing.

Texas: Criminal Penalties Now Possible for Non-Filers

Governor Greg Abbott escalated his campaign against data center opacity on September 21, directing the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to stop issuing all new permits to data centers until ERCOT, the Public Utility Commission, and the Texas Water Development Board complete a comprehensive audit.

The trigger: only 28% of data centers responded to a TWDB water usage survey, which state law requires. Under the Texas Water Code, failing to return the survey is a criminal offense. Abbott directed TWDB on September 14 to refer non-compliant centers to county and district attorneys and report them to TCEQ for permit disqualification.

Abbott first moved against data centers in June, requiring them to fund electric infrastructure costs. In August, he ordered ERCOT to deny grid connections to centers that did not complete the audit. The September 21 TCEQ directive closes a potential workaround — centers building “behind the meter” with private generation would have bypassed the ERCOT audit without it.

“Simply put, Texans must come first,” Abbott wrote in his letter to TCEQ. “Data centers must pay their own way, protect our grid and water and complete the ERCOT and TWDB audits. Until they do, TCEQ will issue no permits sought by data center projects.”

California Finds Water Providers Cite Privacy

Separately, researchers from Santa Clara University studying data centers in water-stressed California communities found that water providers serving data center districts refused to share facility-level usage data, citing privacy regulations. The California findings, reported by The Verge, point to a third regulatory jurisdiction where data center opacity is now under scrutiny.

What the Pattern Means

The three-jurisdiction picture has a common shape: mandatory disclosure laws that exist but are unenforced, and an industry that has successfully avoided meaningful reporting for years. Texas is the first jurisdiction to attach criminal liability and permit consequences to non-compliance. The TWDB audit deadline is October 14, 2026.

The TWDB must report enforcement progress to the Governor’s office by October 14, with the comprehensive ERCOT and PUCT audit expected to complete in December 2026. Until then, no new TCEQ permits means no new projects can advance regardless of grid interconnection status.