Ofgem
The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets, the independent UK energy regulator overseeing the electricity and gas networks.
Ofgem, the UK energy regulator, opened a consultation on 29 July proposing developers pay £237,500 to £712,500 per megawatt to hold a grid-connection offer, refundable once a site is energised, with the window closing 16 September.
Last refreshed: 4 August 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Can Ofgem's Curate reform clear the queue fast enough to keep AI investment in the UK?
Timeline for Ofgem
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Data Centres: Boom and BacklashBackground
Ofgem is the UK's independent statutory regulator for gas and electricity networks, set up in 2000 and based in London. It sets the rules governing network operators and consumer tariffs, and since 2025 has run the Curate programme to strip speculative applications out of Britain's grid-connection queue.
The agency's authority is constrained by statutory consultation timetables, so its responses to the data centre demand surge lag the market by months. Ofgem also opened a separate consultation specifically on AI and data centre electricity demand, treating the sector's growth as the largest single variable in UK system planning.
Ofgem sits between two pressures it cannot resolve by itself: ministers who want faster queue clearance to hold AI investment in Britain, and consumer advocates who see any acceleration as a risk to household bills. Its rulings on connection charges and deposit levels are the mechanism by which that trade-off gets decided.