The energy regulator is mulling an upfront but refundable 'commitment fee' on large data centre development projects to free up Britain's electricity grid.
Ofgem said it planned to ensure Britain's network capacity was used for projects that are 'ready and able to connect' and tackle speculative data centre projects clogging up Britain's electricity connections queue.
Concerns have been mounting that some speculative developers are looking to cash in on higher land values.
The upfront fee would be demanded when a project received a connection offer and returned when the data centre was switched on, Ofgem said.
If the developer abandoned their place in the queue, the fee would not be refunded.
