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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent

Tech firms call for zonal electricity pricing in UK to fuel AI datacentres

Electricity United Kingdom SMF Sam Robinson
Graphic depicting program code with an eye and abstract technology background of server racks and many lights
Datacentres ‘are the critical infrastructure that underpins the digital economy’, said Sam Robinson of the Social Market Foundation thinktank. Photograph: Klaus Ohlenschlaeger/Alamy

Tech companies are putting pressure on the UK government to encourage an AI datacentre boom in remote areas of Great Britain by offering some of the cheapest electricity prices in Europe.

A report paid for by the tech companies Amazon and OpenAI has called on ministers to overhaul the UK’s electricity market by splitting it into different zones so that prices become more expensive in areas where power is in short supply, and cheaper in those where it is ample.

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