LAST UPDATE | 7 Sep

A DEAL TO give data centre operators a reduced price for gas supply would be “deeply unfair” to households and small businesses, according to Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan. 

The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) has proposed an arrangement that would let data centres pay a reduced price on the condition that they accept their supply may be cut intermittently when demand is high, according to a report in The Irish Times.

The interruptions would be the result of increased pressure on the country’s gas supply.

The CRU said the proposal “is focused on protecting the security and resilience of Ireland’s gas and electricity system by ensuring that certain future gas connections are provided on an interruptible basis”.

The regulator said the proposal “reflects the challenges associated with managing future demand on the gas network”. It said it is intended to provide “a mechanism that helps mitigate potential risks to future gas supplies”.

The CRU said that data centres will continue to pay market rates for gas, but that under the proposal they would get a discount when paying network tariffs as long as they agree to accept interrupted supply. 

The amount of energy and water consumed by data centres, and how much strain they are putting on Ireland’s infrastructure, has become the topic of heated political debate as the facilities continue to proliferate. 

Speaking on Newstalk’s Claire Byrne Show this morning, Boylan said that every time data centres and their use of resources are in the news, “it always seems to be that they’re getting a favourable deal”.

Households currently pay more for electricity than large energy users. 

Asked if she believes the development of data centres should be stopped altogether, Boylan said: “Absolutely.”

“We shouldn’t be connecting data centres directly to the grid in the first place,” she said of the reported gas price deal.

“It always seems to be that they’re getting a favourable deal” when it comes to energy prices, she said, adding that the situation was unsustainable given the ongoing cost of living difficulties and the need to combat climate change. 

It was put to her that higher energy prices might discourage data centre development in Ireland. 

“I don’t think it will,” she said, because the government seems intent on attracting data centre operators.

She said that when it comes to the scale of data centre construction, “we are complete outliers” in Europe.

“It seems like everything is stacked in favour of data centres,” she said.

“It just seems to be deeply, deeply unfair.”

Boylan’s sentiments were echoed by Labour, the Social Democrats, the Green Party, and People Before Profit. The parties’ respective spokespeople pointed to the fact that data centres consume almost a quarter of Ireland’s energy.

Labour’s climate spokesperson Ciarán Ahern said people who are struggling to pay their climate bills will “rightly” ask why data centres “are in line for a discount”.

He said the government has ”continued to facilitate the rapid expansion of data centres despite repeated warnings about the enormous pressure they are placing on our energy system, water system, household bills and climate targets”.

Labour has called for a halt on development of data centres until there has been an independent review on their impact on energy prices, water supply, the electricity system, and climate targets.

Additional reporting by Emma Hickey