Guidance

Postcode level domestic electricity consumption: notes

Updated 25 January 2024

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/postcode-level-domestic-gas-and-electricity-consumption-about-the-data/postcode-level-domestic-electricity-consumption-notes

A. What the postcode level data contains

Postcode level electricity consumption statistics for Great Britain are provided for each of the following meter types:

  • All domestic electricity meters
  • Domestic electricity meters – Standard
  • Domestic electricity meters – Economy 7

The columns in the data are as follows:

Column Description
Outcode This is the first part of the postcode which represents the postcode district. For example, the postcode “AB10 1AU” is within the postcode district “AB10”.
Postcode The postcode, for example, “AB10 1AU”. Where the value shown is “Unallocated”, the given row represents the remaining meters (of the given meter type in the postcode district), which could not be allocated to a specific postcode.
Num_meters The number of domestic electricity meters.
Total_cons_kwh The total annual electricity consumption of these meters (kilowatt hours).
Mean_cons_kwh The mean annual electricity consumption per meter (kilowatt hours).
Median_cons_kwh The median annual electricity consumption per meter (kilowatt hours). This is the consumption value for which half of meters are above and half of meters are below. This gives a better reflection of typical consumption at the given postcode. This is because, unlike the mean consumption it is not distorted by extreme values.

B. What is included and excluded in the postcode level data

Meters excluded

Unlike the equivalent statistics published at local authority, middle-layer super output area (MSOA) level and lower-layer super out area (LSOA) levels; meters with a recorded annual electricity consumption of less than 100kWh have been excluded from the postcode level data.

Some meters did not have postcodes which could be matched to the ONS National Statistics Postcodes Lookup (NSPL). These meters have been removed from the dataset. Such meters were retained in the aggregated statistics by outcode (the rows where the specified postcode is “All postcodes”) if they had a valid outcode.

Disclosive postcodes

The statistics for a given postcode and given type of meter (All meters / Standard / Economy 7) are considered to be disclosive (and therefore supressed) if:

  • there are less than 5 meters (of the given meter type) allocated to the postcode.
  • the top two highest consuming meters make up more than 90% of the total consumption of the postcode (for the given meter type)

For a postcode to be included in the ‘Standard meters’ dataset one of the following additional criteria must also be met (to ensure that this data is not disclosive when compared to the ‘All meters’ and ‘Economy 7’ datasets):

  • all (of the at least 5) meters allocated to the postcode are Standard.
  • there are at least 5 Standard meters and at least 4 Economy 7 meters

Likewise, for a given postcode to be included in the ‘Economy 7’ dataset one of the following additional criteria must also be met (to ensure that this data is not disclosive when compared to the ‘All meters’ and ‘Standard’ datasets):

  • all (of the at least 5) meters allocated to the postcode are Economy 7
  • there are at least 5 Economy 7 meters and at least 4 Standard meters

Disclosive meters at outcode level

In addition to data on individual postcodes (where they are not disclosive), rows are also included to provide the aggregate statistics for entire postcode districts (outcodes, for example ‘AB10’). These are the rows where the specified postcode is ‘All postcodes’.

For a given outcode / meter type, the remaining meter with the highest consumption is removed iteratively from the aggregate statistics for a given outcode while the top 2 highest consuming meters make up more than 90% of total consumption. Any statistics based on fewer than 5 remaining meters are suppressed.

In virtually all cases the entire outcode is suppressed (for the meter type) rather than individual high consuming meters being removed.

Similarly to postcodes, outcode are suppressed in the Standard and Economy 7 datasets if they are disclosive when compared to the other two postcode level electricity datasets.

C. Additional information

Please also note that:

  • information about how electricity meters have been classified as being domestic can be found in the subnational methodology and guidance note
  • mean and median consumption values for a particular postcode can differ considerably. This is typically because a small number of meters have much higher consumption than the rest, distorting the mean

Before using any of these datasets, please refer to the relevant chapter in the subnational methodology and guidance note.

Responsible statistician: Hiten Shah, energyefficiency.stats@energysecurity.gov.uk

D. Sub-national consumption datasets

The following sub-national consumption datasets are also available:

Electricity consumption statistics

Gas consumption statistics

Road transport consumption statistics

Residual fuels (non-electricity, non-gas, non-road transport fuels)

Total final energy consumption statistics

If you have any comments or queries about any of the above publications, please send them to energyefficiency.stats@energysecurity.gov.uk.

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