Ofgem launches investor engagement forum as data centre commitment fee consultation closes 16 September

Ofgem has published a blog post setting out the current state of its connections reform programme and announcing the creation of a new Connections Investor Delivery Engagement Forum (CIDEF) - a monthly body led by the regulator that will feed directly into the operational governance of the reformed connections process^[1]. The forum sits alongside an open consultation, launched on 29 July 2026, proposing a commitment fee of £237,500 to £712,500 per megawatt for large data centre projects accepting a grid connection offer, with responses due by 16 September 2026.

The queue problem driving reform

The scale of the problem is not in dispute. Contracted demand connection applications in Great Britain's grid queue surged from 41 GW in November 2024 to 125 GW by June 2025 - against a national peak electricity demand of roughly 45 GW. Data centre projects account for at least 80 GW of those applications, the majority of which Ofgem and industry groups regard as speculative.

The generation side of the queue has already been restructured. Under the TMO4+ reform approved by Ofgem in April 2025, 221 GW of projects that were not needed for 2035 or were no longer progressing were moved out of the main queue. Gate 2 connection offers - carrying confirmed dates, costs, and locations - are now being issued in batches across 2026, with the final batch expected by mid-March 2027.

What CIDEF is and why it matters

CIDEF - the Connections Investor/Developer Engagement Forum - is a new monthly forum led by Ofgem that brings together developers and investors to feed views directly into the reform process^[1]. Industry commentary describes it as feeding into "Gold Command," the operational body overseeing connections delivery, and as a partial successor to the existing Connections Delivery Board, which will now focus on demand connections and the end-to-end review.

The forum's creation reflects a recurring complaint from developers: that cost increases, unhelpful offer clauses, and inconsistent treatment across distribution network operators have undermined confidence in the reformed process even as offers are being issued. Protected transmission and distribution offers have now been issued, with around 400 accepted, but some include caveats suggesting transmission costs could still change - a point flagged as inconsistent with the methodology for protected projects.

The Curate consultation: pricing out speculation

The 29 July consultation is the first concrete output of the "Curate" pillar of Ofgem's demand connections reform - the workstream focused on removing speculative projects from the queue. The two main proposals are:

• A Data Centre Commitment Fee of £237,500 to £712,500 per MW for projects above a 40 MW threshold, equivalent to 2.5%-7.5% of average data centre capital expenditure. The fee is refunded at energisation and forfeited if the project exits the queue early.
• Data centre-specific queue management milestones, requiring projects to demonstrate real progress at defined intervals to retain their queue position.

The consultation closes on 16 September 2026, after which Ofgem intends to take final decisions later in 2026, implemented through changes to industry codes, licences, and contractual arrangements.

What to watch

The September deadline is the immediate marker. Ofgem has signalled it will move quickly to decisions once responses are in, meaning the commitment fee framework - and the milestone regime that accompanies it - could be in force before the end of the year. The parallel question is whether CIDEF produces visible changes to offer quality and consistency, or becomes another forum that generates minutes without altering network operator behaviour. Developers with protected 2026 and 2027 connection dates who have not yet received compliant offers will be watching both tracks closely.