At the ESO we keep the grid balanced to ensure that electricity supply always meets demand. To achieve this highly complex activity, we have a team of experts in our control centre who are responsible for monitoring how demand rises and falls throughout the day, how it is affected by the weather and seasons, and to ensure there is always enough supply at a moment’s notice.

To give you some insight into the world of balancing the grid, we’ve developed a game where you can attempt to keep the grid stable while facing some of the challenges our control room operatives experience daily.

⁠Our Balancing the Grid game is best experienced on horizontal screens such as a laptop, computer or tablet. It is not currently optimised for mobile phones.

More information about electricity and balancing the grid

Great Britain's monthly electricity stats

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Ever wonder how much electricity is generated and used in Great Britain? Find out what happened with our energy mix last month.

How do we balance the grid?

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Electricity is transported to all corners of Great Britain. The role of the ESO is to ensure electricity supply meets demand second by second, which is what we mean by ‘balancing’ the grid.  

How is electricity generated?

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The way electricity is generated is changing as we head towards a greener future but it’s important to have different fuel sources and technologies to generate electricity to ensure a constant supply and are not overly reliant on one type of power generation.