Britain’s electricity is its ‘most British’ in over 20 YEARS

Britain’s electricity is its ‘most British’ in over 20 years, a new analysis has revealed.

Experts from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) have analysed the sources of energy to supply Britain’s electricity last year. 

Their results indicate that just 46 per cent of the energy was imported, while 53 per cent was generated in the UK. 

For comparison, 48 per cent was imported in 2024, while a whopping 67 per cent was imported in 2013. 

This spike in UK energy is largely a result of renewables powered by wind, water and sunshine, according to the experts.

‘Many people won’t necessarily realise it, but the UK has made significant progress in shifting away from gas and towards renewables, boosting energy independence in the process,’ said Dr Simon Cran–McGreehin, Head of Analysis at the ECIU.

‘The UK was particularly badly hurt by the last gas crisis, because as a country we’ve been so dependent on gas for both generating electricity and heating homes. 

‘As the current crisis shows, we’re not out of the woods yet, and the grid requires investment, but renewables already are helping to insulate against and gradually unplug from the volatile global oil and gas system.’

For their analysis, the team sifted through the UK government’s Energy Trends reports from last year. 

Their investigation revealed that over 53 per cent of the energy used for UK electricity in 2025 came from UK sources, while 46 per cent was imported. 

‘Results for imported primary energy and UK–based primary energy do not sum to 100% in some years because, whilst electrical storage was included in the analysis, it was not treated as being either UK–based or imported energy, on the grounds that the source of the electricity used to fill the storage cannot be deduced using only annual data,’ the experts explained. 

‘In reality, electrical storage is increasingly filled using UK wind and solar, but this can only be demonstrated using highly granular data, and was hence beyond the scope of this analysis.’

Higher output from wind, hydro and solar accounted for the majority of this improvement, giving over six times as much extra benefit as was provided by shifts in fossil fuel sources. 

Solar output rose the most, increasing by over a third (37 per cent). 

In addition, a new record was set for UK wind power at the end of March.

While gas net imports fell slightly, this was only possible due to a reduction in demand. 

Dr Cran–McGreehin said: ‘The expansion of renewables is more than making up for the ongoing decline in North Sea gas output which has happened even under decades of policy to maximise extraction.

‘The point that many politicians neglect to mention when talking about it is that reaching net zero emissions is not only scientifically the only way to stop climate change, but it also means gradually detaching ourselves from burning oil and gas and the instability for billpayers and businesses that those markets have created.

‘Combined with electric heat pumps replacing gas boilers and EVs taking the place of petrol and diesel cars, you can see a path to UK energy powering the economy and people’s homes better protected from these global shocks. 

‘British wind and sunlight don’t run through the Strait of Hormuz. 

‘It’s the hard work of communities in Grimsby, Tyneside and Sunderland building the offshore wind farms and electric cars that enable us to become more energy independent.’