Grid Check launches at CentremapsLive: understand your electricity capacity before you commit

Electricity capacity is becoming an increasingly important consideration for property development. For years, electricity has often been treated as something that can be dealt with once a development has progressed further, but that approach is becoming increasingly difficult as demand on the UK electricity network grows. Whether you are assessing a potential development site, preparing a planning application, developing a scheme or moving towards construction, understanding the local electricity network at an early stage can help identify potential constraints before they become expensive or disruptive problems. CentremapsLive is now launching Grid Check, a new desktop assessment designed to provide early insight into the electricity capacity and headroom available around a proposed development site.

The timing of the launch is particularly relevant. In 2026, electricity connections and available network capacity continue to be a major focus for the UK energy sector. Ofgem reported in July that contracted demand offers had increased from 41GW to 125GW between November 2024 and June 2025, with the rapid growth driven largely by data centre projects. Government and Ofgem are now progressing reforms to the demand connections process, with the aim of ensuring viable projects can secure connections in a timely way and addressing projects that are occupying scarce network capacity without being ready to progress.

For property developers and anyone involved in assessing development opportunities, this reinforces the importance of understanding electricity infrastructure sooner rather than later. A site can have a suitable location, planning potential and the right physical characteristics for development, but if the local electricity network has limited headroom or significant competing demand, that can introduce another consideration into the overall feasibility of the scheme.

Learn more about Grid Check

What is Grid Check?

Grid Check has been developed by our partner, Apogee Property & Utility Consultants to provide an initial assessment of the available electricity capacity within the local distribution network. The service is suitable for a wide range of developments, from smaller projects such as EV charging requirements through to larger residential and commercial schemes. It is intended to give developers, land agents, planners, consultants, architects, contractors, surveyors and other property professionals an early indication of the electricity position around a site.

The assessment uses relevant Distribution Network Operator information to identify the nearest primary and secondary substations and considers the available capacity, network headroom and competing enquiries in the area. The report then brings this information together with mapped information and a Red, Amber or Green assessment, providing a straightforward way of understanding whether electricity capacity could represent a potential constraint for the proposed development. The result is an easy to interpret PDF report that can be used as part of the wider site investigation and development process.

Importantly, Grid Check is an early stage assessment rather than a formal connection application. Electricity networks are continually changing and capacity information can change as new projects progress through the connections process. The Grid Check report is therefore intended to provide an indication of the current position and help identify whether further investigation is warranted before significant investment or final design decisions are made. Formal, site specific confirmation remains necessary where a project progresses towards an actual connection.

Pre-planning: ask the electricity question before committing to the site

The pre-planning and site appraisal stage is arguably where this information can be most useful. Before a development has progressed too far, there is still an opportunity to investigate potential constraints, compare options and decide whether additional due diligence is required. Electricity capacity can sit alongside other familiar development considerations such as planning constraints, flood risk, ground conditions, environmental issues, utilities and access, giving the project team a broader picture of the opportunities and risks associated with a site.

Grid Check helps answer some fundamental questions at this stage. What is the nearest primary or secondary substation? Which Distribution Network Operator is responsible for the relevant network? How much headroom is currently indicated? Are other developers or projects already seeking capacity in the area? And based on the available information, does electricity capacity look like something that needs further investigation before the project progresses?

Having those answers early does not necessarily tell you whether a development can or cannot proceed, but it can change the questions you ask next. If the available capacity looks relatively healthy and there are limited competing enquiries, the information can provide some reassurance that the electricity position warrants further progression. If the assessment identifies limited headroom or significant competing demand, that becomes an issue that can be investigated while there is still time to consider the implications.

For land agents and developers in particular, this can be valuable during early site assessment. A potential site can look attractive from a planning, location or commercial perspective but infrastructure constraints are not always immediately obvious. Identifying a potential electricity constraint before an acquisition or before significant professional fees have been committed can give a project team more time to understand the position and establish what further work may be needed.

Design stage: understand the network before the scheme becomes fixed

Electricity capacity is not simply a land acquisition issue. It can also become increasingly important as a scheme moves into design. The anticipated electrical load of a development can be influenced by its size, use and specification, while wider electrification is changing the way developments use electricity. EV charging, electric heating, commercial equipment and other energy demands can all contribute to the overall requirement.

This makes it useful to understand the network position while a scheme is still capable of being adjusted. If an initial Grid Check identifies limited headroom or a high level of competing demand, the development team has an opportunity to investigate the situation rather than discovering the issue after the design has become much more advanced. It may mean obtaining further specialist advice, discussing the potential requirements with the relevant network operator or considering how the anticipated electrical demand should be approached.

The value of Grid Check at this stage is therefore less about providing a definitive answer and more about making a potential unknown visible. It can give architects, planners, engineers, developers and consultants another piece of information to consider when developing the scheme and deciding where more detailed investigations are justified.

This is particularly relevant given the wider changes taking place across the UK electricity connections process. Ofgem has described 2026 as an important year for connections reform and strategic energy planning, with increasing electricity demand from areas including transport, heating and industry creating additional pressure on the network. Government has also highlighted housing developments alongside transport, manufacturing and data centres as part of the wider growth in electricity demand expected as more parts of the economy become electrified.

Build stage: don't discover an electricity constraint too late

The need to understand electricity capacity does not disappear once a project has passed the initial feasibility stage. As development moves towards construction, assumptions about infrastructure need to become increasingly robust and an unresolved electricity issue can have implications for the wider programme if it has not been investigated in good time.

One of the biggest risks is not necessarily discovering that there is limited capacity. The bigger problem can be discovering it after considerable time and money have already been invested in the project. If a constraint becomes apparent during a late stage of design or construction, there may be fewer opportunities to respond without affecting the wider scheme.

A Grid Check provides a useful early snapshot of the local electricity environment, helping the project team understand the capacity and headroom position and whether other enquiries are already competing for capacity. It can therefore form part of the information gathering process as a project progresses, particularly where the anticipated electrical requirement is significant.

Again, it is important to understand what the assessment does and does not provide. Grid Check does not guarantee that a project will receive a connection and it is not a formal Point of Connection assessment. Instead, it gives development teams an early indication of the network position so that potential issues can be identified and investigated before they become late-stage surprises.

What could happen if you don't gather the information?

The consequences of not investigating electricity capacity early will depend on the individual development, but the underlying risk is straightforward: you may be making decisions about a site or scheme without understanding an important part of its infrastructure requirements.

If limited capacity is identified during early site appraisal, there is time to investigate what that means. If the same issue only becomes apparent after an acquisition, detailed design or significant expenditure, the project may have fewer options and less flexibility. It could mean additional investigation, changes to assumptions about the development, further discussions with network operators or delays while the position is clarified.

The rapidly changing connections environment makes this particularly relevant in 2026. Ofgem has identified a large and growing demand queue, including projects that may not be viable and well-progressed projects that are unable to connect quickly because of network and generation build requirements and the presence of other projects in the queue. Government has also introduced proposals intended to address speculative demand connection requests and prioritise strategically important projects.

For developers, the message is not that every project will face an electricity capacity problem. It is that electricity capacity is worth checking rather than assuming. A relatively quick desktop assessment can help establish whether it is an issue that needs to move higher up the project's agenda and whether quicker movement on planning application process is required.

What does a Grid Check actually tell you?

The report is designed to make the information relatively easy to understand without requiring the reader to interpret large amounts of raw network information themselves. Based on the site location, area and anticipated electrical load, the assessment identifies the relevant nearby primary and secondary substations and the DNO responsible for the network. It then considers the available capacity and headroom alongside competing enquiries seeking capacity in the same area.

The results are presented through mapped information and a Red, Amber and Green rating, allowing the project team to see where potential risks sit. The current Grid Check product is designed to be available for a wide range of development types and the report can normally be issued immediately or within one working day where a pre-issue check is required.

That makes it particularly suited to the earlier stages of a project where information is needed quickly to support an ongoing site assessment or development conversation.

More Grid Check services are coming

The launch of Grid Check is the first stage of a wider Grid Check series being developed.

CentremapsLive and Apogee are actively interested in customer feedback as the services develop, meaning the final products can be shaped around the information that development professionals actually need.

Try Grid Check with 50% off

Grid Check is now available through CentremapsLive, making it easier to add early electricity capacity intelligence to the wider mapping, utility, environmental and property information already available through the platform.

To celebrate the launch, CentremapsLive is offering 50% off your first company Grid Check for a limited time.

If you are assessing a new development site, working on a planning proposal, reviewing an existing scheme or simply want to understand whether electricity capacity could become a constraint, get in touch with the CentremapsLive team. We can talk through what you are working on and explain how Grid Check could fit into your existing site investigation process.

Get in touch with CentremapsLive today to claim your 50% launch offer and find out what Grid Check could tell you about your site.