TRANSPARENT BY DESIGN

A source for every number.

Different utilities have different markets, geographical coverage and reporting schedules. We show those differences instead of presenting every figure as a live local price.

The electricity map

The Carbon Intensity API supplies the latest published Great Britain generation mix and carbon intensity. The half-hourly mix includes estimates of embedded generation. We poll every two minutes while the page is visible and refresh when you return to the tab; that does not make the underlying readings two-minute measurements. Readings more than 90 minutes old are labelled delayed. The 24-hour slider uses published historical mix records.

Renewable share is wind, solar, hydro and biomass added together. Imports are a separate category. Pumped storage is not automatically renewable generation. Carbon intensity is labelled actual or forecast according to the source, with its own observation time and delayed label after 90 minutes. Northern Ireland is outside this GB mix and has a separate area selection.

Northern Ireland electricity

The Northern Ireland area uses the EirGrid Group Smart Grid Dashboard for quarter-hourly system demand, system generation, wind and solar readings in MW. Each metric retains its own observation time. Source chart code interprets these timestamps as UTC; we parse them explicitly as UTC and display London time. Future observations, missing values and invalid readings are excluded. Readings older than 45 minutes are marked delayed. The endpoint checks the current and previous UTC days to retain the last valid reading around midnight.

Wind and solar are parts of generation, while demand is a separate measure. System generation excludes some unmonitored small-scale generation. These values are not added to the GB percentage mix: EirGrid’s fuel-mix totals cover 24 hours, a different period. Northern Ireland readings refresh on area selection and during visible polling. Supported by EirGrid Group Data, used under its Open Data Licence. This attribution does not imply endorsement.

Wind and the 3D landmarks

Weather data comes from MET Norway, licensed under CC BY 4.0. We sample hourly model conditions at the approximate reference point of each of the 38 mapped UK wind farms. The displayed wind is a 10 m model estimate, not a turbine sensor reading or a measurement at hub height. “Windiest mapped farm” means the highest valid estimate among those samples, not the windiest point anywhere in the UK.

Wind streaks travel downwind; turbine heads turn to face into the modelled wind. Meteorological directions name where wind comes from, clockwise from north. Two illustrative turbines represent each site, rather than reproducing its real turbine count or layout. Turbine animation is illustrative, capped in speed, and stopped below 3 m/s or at 25 m/s and above. Real turbine controls differ. Solar panel brightness follows the national solar share. Installed landmarks remain visible regardless of current output. No plant-level generation is claimed.

Weather valid times must be within 90 minutes, with a model issue time within 12 hours, to animate. Weather is hidden during historical electricity playback. Geography uses Natural Earth public-domain map data. The 38 selected wind farms (32 in Great Britain and six in Northern Ireland) use the DESNZ Renewable Energy Planning Database, July 2026 (Q2), updated 3 August 2026, under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These projects were listed as Operational in that snapshot. British National Grid project reference points are converted to longitude and latitude; these are approximate locations, not turbine coordinates. Whitelee, Clyde and Race Bank phases are grouped. Listed capacity comes from the same dated database and is not current output. This is a curated selection, not a complete inventory. Other example plant locations use the WRI Global Power Plant Database.

Cross-border gas flows

The National Gas instantaneous flow service provides terminal measurements. We show selected connections to Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and Ireland. Units are million cubic metres per day: an instantaneous flow rate expressed on a daily basis, not the volume already imported that day.

For the Belgium and Netherlands connections, net direction is calculated from entry minus exit at a matching observation time. Both readings are required. Norway uses the measured entry at Easington Langeled; Ireland uses the measured exit at Moffat. Expired or missing readings do not become zero. Readings more than 40 minutes old are marked delayed and their animation stops. Pipeline routes are schematic.

Household electricity and gas

Energy cards use Ofgem’s regional cap tables for October–December 2026. We derive pence-per-day standing charges from the annual nil-consumption charge, and pence-per-kWh from the difference between the typical-consumption and nil-consumption annual charges. Published annual inputs are rounded, so derived rates are benchmarks rather than supplier-specific quotes.

The displayed payment method is Direct Debit with single-rate electricity. Tax follows Ofgem’s period-specific guidance: 0% electricity VAT in this period, and 5% gas VAT included. A price cap is not a cap on the total bill or an average of every deal available. Prices are versioned snapshots, with effective dates displayed; they do not automatically refresh from a live tariff exchange.

Business electricity and gas

DESNZ non-domestic prices are quarterly, consumption-weighted, fully delivered historical prices paid. Our current dataset covers April–June 2026 and was published on 29 September 2026. Figures include Climate Change Levy and exclude VAT. Standing-charge costs are already reflected within the effective p/kWh. The consumption bands are used as published.

These UK-wide averages are not regional prices or current quotes. A quote requires site and contract details. Business water is also site specific; no household average is substituted for it.

Water

Water UK’s 2026/27 company averages cover forecast household annual bills in England and Wales. We separate combined water/sewerage bills from water-only bills. An energy region does not determine your water company, so the selectors are independent. The water-area selector is independent of the GB energy-region selector.

For Scotland, Scottish Water’s 2026/27 announcement supplies the £532 household average and standard unmetered charges for Council Tax bands A–H. Band charges exclude Council Tax itself and are shown before discounts or reductions. Choose only the water and waste water services connected to the property. The published average is not the Band D charge. Metered homes and private supplies need separate information; see Scottish Water’s household guidance.

In Northern Ireland, separate domestic charges remain deferred according to NI Water’s March 2026 announcement. We display that arrangement rather than a £0 tariff. Non-domestic properties, including farms and mixed-use premises, have different rules. Connection and other service charges are outside this summary. All water figures are dated source snapshots, not live tariffs.

Seasonal usage estimates

The seasonal planner uses UK quarterly consumption from DESNZ Energy Trends 4.1 (gas) and 5.2 (electricity), published 29 September 2026. It uses complete years 2023–2025. For each year we divide each quarter by the sum of that year’s four quarters, then average the three sets of shares equally. We multiply your annual usage by those shares and allocate each quarter evenly across its days. The selected three calendar months can cross quarters or years; leap days are included.

Household, industry (iron and steel plus other industries), and other final users remain separate. Household and other-user electricity excludes electric vehicles. This is a broad national historical planning model, not a local weather prediction or a personalised consumption forecast. The displayed low–high range uses each of the three historical patterns separately and is not a probability interval. Source values, row labels, cell references and file checksums are retained with the project. Refresh the dataset annually when another complete year is published.

Calculators and publication

Calculators use your inputs and explain their formulas and limits. The 90-day budget tool is a scenario, not a forecast. Example inputs are not offered tariffs. Guides disclose AI assistance and link to original sources. The publishing service chooses supporting evidence from connected official sources, writes articles and runs an independent AI fact check. Articles that cannot be verified are held for attention. Prepared drafts are checked again before scheduled publication.

When data is unavailable

Feed failures are shown openly. We do not generate plausible-looking replacement readings. The 3D scene is an illustration of published data, not an operational control room or a complete measurement of UK energy use.