This page sets out the rules behind the numbers on Our Power. For who we are and how we stay independent, see our editorial policy.
Where our figures come from
We use the organisations that measure or decide things, in roughly this order of preference:
- UK official statistics and regulators: the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (Digest of UK Energy Statistics, Energy Trends, deployment statistics), the National Energy System Operator (NESO), Ofgem, and official records such as Contracts for Difference results and planning decisions.
- International bodies: the International Energy Agency, the International Renewable Energy Agency, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and sector bodies such as the International Hydropower Association.
- Peer-reviewed research and national research organisations, for example the British Geological Survey.
- Company and project information, always attributed to the company, and used for what a company says about its own projects rather than as independent evidence.
- Reputable press, mainly to establish when something happened.
We do not use figures from paid market-research summaries, anonymous blogs or unattributed social media posts.
Rules for figures
- Every figure has a year. “Wind supplied 29.4% of UK electricity” is incomplete; “in 2025” is part of the fact.
- Revisions are shown. Official statistics are revised. When a figure has changed since first publication, we use the latest version and say so where it matters.
- Conflicting sources are shown side by side, with the reason if it is known (for example, different definitions of capacity).
- Price bases are never mixed. Contracts for Difference strike prices are quoted in 2012 prices unless stated otherwise; we only compare prices on the same basis.
- Status words are precise. “Operating” means generating; “under construction” means building has started; “consented” means permission has been granted but no investment decision may have been taken; “proposed” means none of these. Provisional regulatory decisions are called provisional.
- Our own arithmetic is labelled as a calculation rather than presented as a sourced statistic.
- No guessing. If a figure cannot be verified, it is left out.
How we use AI tools
Drafts may be prepared with the help of AI writing tools. The tool is given a fact sheet compiled from the sources above and is instructed not to add facts of its own. Every draft is then checked by hand, claim by claim, against that fact sheet and its sources before publication, and anything unsupported is corrected or removed. AI tools are not used to generate data, quotes or images.
Live UK grid data
The figures on our UK grid page, in the strip at the top of every page and in the “Britain’s grid in numbers” panels come from the Carbon Intensity API of the National Energy System Operator, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence.
- They cover Great Britain. Northern Ireland is part of the separate all-island electricity market.
- Generation mix is the share of each fuel in the latest half-hour period.
- Low-carbon share is our sum of wind, solar, hydro, biomass and nuclear. Imports are shown separately because their carbon content depends on where they come from.
- Carbon intensity is grams of CO₂ per kilowatt-hour of electricity consumed, as published by NESO.
- The strip and the live panel refresh in your browser every five minutes. The 24-hour and 30-day panels are rebuilt every hour.
Photographs
Photographs are licensed stock images (mainly from Pexels) chosen to illustrate the topic. They are not photographs of the specific project being described unless the caption says so.
Archive articles
Some older articles predate this methodology. Until they are reviewed, they carry a note saying so. Reviewed pages show the editor’s name and a list of sources.