Connection Costs: What Industrial and Commercial Businesses Are Afraid Of

This work is a culmination of a case-study-led research programme, announced in ADE Demand's March 2026 Connections and Industrial & Commercial Demand publication. 

The report documents a specific failure. Industrial and commercial businesses cannot obtain, early enough to support a credible investment decision, an estimate of what a new or upgraded electricity connection is likely to cost. Additionally, for industrial sites, the risk is concentrated around fixed asset-replacement dates. If the connection arrives after the replacement decision, the site may install another gas asset that remains in service for twenty years or more.

The core findings of the report include:

• Businesses cannot obtain a credible connection-cost range early enough to support an investment decision.

• For industrial sites, if the connection arrives after the replacement decision then the site may install another gas asset that remains in service for twenty years or more.

• When a business or industrial site assesses the grid connection process and decides not to proceed, the project never enters any report or performance metric.

The Full Evidence Report draws on six composite case studies and three vignettes.

Our key recommendations include:

1. Government should work with Ofgem to introduce a systematic measurement of deterred demand - projects abandoned before formal application.
2. Distribution network operators should be required to publish anonymised benchmark data on quotes, costs and project timelines. In the absence of such comparable historical data, it is not feasible for any business to assess the reasonableness of a £10 million quotation.
3. Transparent, itemised offers on grid connections should be mandated, explicitly detailing sole-use assets, reinforcement works and the apportionment calculation. Furthermore, it should be stipulated that upstream transmission risks are disclosed prior to the collection of any acceptance fees.

Credit to Dr Philip Nicholson.