About UK Electricity
An independent, free site showing what Britain's electricity grid is doing and what that means for household prices.
What this site is
UK Electricity brings live grid data and smart-tariff prices together in one place, in plain English. It is built and run by druebuilds. It is not affiliated with any energy supplier, network company or government body. Nothing here is financial advice; check your own supplier for the prices you pay.
Where the numbers come from
Elexon Insights Solution (BMRS)
Generation by fuel, interconnector flows, demand outturn and forecasts, system frequency, market index and system prices, and spare capacity.
Contains BMRS data © Elexon Limited copyright and database right 2026.
NESO Data Portal
Embedded (rooftop and small-scale) solar and wind estimates, and the historic generation mix back to 2009.
Supported by National Energy SO Open Data.
Carbon Intensity API
Carbon intensity of electricity, actual estimates and the 48-hour forecast.
NESO with the University of Oxford and partners, licensed CC BY 4.0.
Octopus Energy public API
Agile and Tracker unit rates and standing charges for each region, and the postcode-to-region lookup.
UK Electricity is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by Octopus Energy.
Ofgem
The energy price cap unit rates and standing charges for each region, and typical household use (2,500 kWh a year).
Regional cap rates derived from Ofgem's published cap level workbook.
Figures are shown as the sources publish them and may be revised later. Times are UK time.
How often it updates
- Live grid pages refresh every 5 minutes. Generation updates every 5 minutes at source; carbon, prices and demand every half-hour.
- Agile and Tracker prices are checked every few minutes. Tomorrow's Agile prices usually appear around 4pm.
- History, records and forecast accuracy come from our own log, collected every 30 minutes and published every two hours, with a daily archive.
How the grid stress score works
The stress score, from 0 (relaxed) to 100 (under strain), is our own reading, not an official measure. It blends four things:
- Spare capacity, 40%: NESO's de-rated margin as a share of demand, blended with the loss-of-load probability.
- Price, 30%: the market index price, half on its absolute level and half against its 48-hour median.
- Frequency, 20%: the average distance from 50 Hz over the last 5 minutes, ignoring the first 50 mHz.
- Imports, 10%: how much of demand is met by net imports (30% or more scores the maximum).
Bands: under 25 relaxed, 25 to 50 normal, 50 to 75 tight, 75 and over stressed.
Privacy
We use Vercel Web Analytics, which counts visits without cookies and without tracking you across sites. If you enter a postcode, we send it to Octopus Energy's public API to find your region and do not store it.
Get in touch
Spotted something wrong, or want the data for a project? Message druebuilds on LinkedIn.