The UK’s problematic power price

Expensive electricity has forced out swathes of energy-intensive industry and now threatens the country’s ability to attract future investment in datacentres and the digital economy

OpenAI recently paused a multibillion-pound datacentre and chip manufacturing project in the UK, citing concerns over high energy costs and regulation. The US company’s decisions to shelve the project, known as Stargate UK, may have been an attempt to secure more regulatory concessions from the government, but the country’s uncompetitive energy costs were undoubtedly a factor. UK electricity prices are, and have been for some time, among the highest in Europe and in the G7. Industrial power prices are about 60% above the median of all countries reporting to the IEA. “It is pretty hard to dispute that British industry faces an energy cost crisis” Helm, University of Oxford High power