The energy regulator is mulling an upfront but refundable 'commitment fee' on large data centre development projects to free up Britain's electricity grid. Alongside the proposed fee, Ofgem said it was consulting on creating 'queue management milestones' for large data centre projects. Britain has around 450 large data centres, with London holding more capacity than the rest of Britain combined. The Slough Trading Estate has 30 data centres in its one square mile, which is the highest concentration in Europe. In July 2025, the National Energy Systems Operator estimated that data centres used around 2 per cent of all electricity in Britain.