UK power generation per person down a third since 2003
Original title: Electricity generation per person in the United Kingdom has fallen by a third from its early-2000s peak · Our World in Data · 3 Oct 2026

Chart: Our World in Data, CC BY 4.0
So what
Britain now generates per head what it did in the late 1960s, as efficiency gains, imports and a shrinking industrial base hollowed out demand. For utilities and grid investors, two decades of flat-to-falling volumes are about to reverse as heat pumps, EVs and data centres arrive. The question for boards is whether networks and generation sized for decline can be rebuilt fast enough for growth.
| Label | Value | Unit | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK total electricity generation | 3.89 | TWh | 1920 |
| UK total electricity generation | 73.491 | TWh | 1950 |
| UK total electricity generation | 146.1 | TWh | 1960 |
| UK total electricity generation | 238.781 | TWh | 1968 |
| UK total electricity generation | 256.342 | TWh | 1970 |
| UK total electricity generation | 277.676 | TWh | 1980 |
| UK total electricity generation | 319.75 | TWh | 1990 |
| UK total electricity generation | 377.06 | TWh | 2000 |
| UK total electricity generation | 398.21 | TWh | 2003 |
| UK total electricity generation | 398.35 | TWh | 2005 |
| UK total electricity generation | 382.06 | TWh | 2010 |
| UK total electricity generation | 338.87 | TWh | 2015 |
| UK total electricity generation | 310.3 | TWh | 2020 |
| UK total electricity generation | 324.58 | TWh | 2022 |
| UK total electricity generation | 292.53 | TWh | 2023 |
| UK total electricity generation | 284.16 | TWh | 2024 |
| UK total electricity generation | 292.31 | TWh | 2025 |
| UK net imports as share of demand | 1 | % | 2010 |
| UK net imports as share of demand | 9 | % | 2025 |
| Decline in UK generation per person since 2003 peak | more than one-third | — | 2003-2025 |

