Data centre power: PUE and pass-through
IT load, PUE, power cost and how it is recovered.
By Surojit Chakraverti, founder of L3VLUP and an investor running a long-short healthcare and technology equities strategy.
On this subject: data centre power: pue and pass-through.Updated 4 November 2026
Part of project finance and infrastructure models, with the models, labs and guides around it.
What it does
The largest line on both sides of a colocation operator’s income statement. Tenants draw a share of the capacity they lease; the facility draws that IT load times PUE, the extra power that cooling and conversion take; the operator buys all of it at the utility’s price. Most wholesale capacity is billed for its power at cost plus a margin, so a higher price passes through and only the margin is at risk. Capacity sold on all-in pricing pays a fixed charge per kW, and a higher power price comes out of the operator’s NOI.
Where it lives
The same schedule in each model that carries it, with the rows to open. Open a model in the browser, go to the sheet, and click the lines.
- Assumptions, rows 21–28: Utilisation of leased capacity, PUE (power usage effectiveness), Hours in a year, Power price, Y1, base case…
- Power, rows 6–10: Leased MW, IT load drawn, Facility load, Facility energy…
- Power, rows 13–20: Power cost, Power cost of capacity billed at cost, Power billed at cost plus margin, All-in power charge per kW per month…
What a reviewer looks for
- Power cost from the MW built rather than the load drawn.
- PUE left out, so the cooling load is free.
- All-in pricing treated as a pass-through.
Learn it, then build it
Vocabulary: Net Operating Income (NOI).