Data Centre Commitment Fee
Ofgem's proposed £237,500-£712,500 per MW deposit to hold a UK grid connection offer.
The Data Centre Commitment Fee is Ofgem's proposal, opened for consultation on 29 July 2026, requiring developers to post £237,500 to £712,500 per megawatt to hold a UK grid connection offer.
Last refreshed: 4 August 2026
How much would a 1 GW data centre pay to hold its grid slot?
Timeline for Data Centre Commitment Fee
Ofgem puts a price on the grid queue
Data Centres: Boom and BacklashBackground
The Data Centre Commitment Fee is a proposal from Britain's energy regulator Ofgem, opened for consultation on 29 July 2026, requiring developers to post a refundable deposit of £237,500 to £712,500 per megawatt when accepting a grid connection offer . It is refunded on energisation and forfeited if the developer abandons the slot.
The aim is to filter speculative applications from a UK connection queue that grew from 41 GW to 125 GW between November 2024 and June 2025, roughly 80 GW of it data centres.
The consultation closes 16 September 2026; no developer has yet paid anything, so the fee's deterrent effect remains untested.