The UK’s electricity supply has seen a higher proportion of energy used to supply power from UK-based sources last year, according to analysis from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU).
The news means a growing independence from foreign fuels such as gas imports for gas power stations. It comes as calculations based on UK Government data estimate in 2025 that 46% of energy used to supply electricity to the UK was imported. This is down from 48% in 2024 and a peak of 67% in 2013 – it is also the lowest share since 2004.
Set against the backdrop of the second gas price crisis caused by a war in just a matter of years, the results could improve again in 2026, if deployment of renewables exceeds the decline in North Sea gas production.
Without renewables powered by UK wind, water and sunshine, the UK would have been more reliant on imported gas. 73% of the primary energy used for supplying UK electricity would have been imported in 2025.
Renewables that use no fuels generated 8% more power in 2025 than in 2024, with solar output rising the most, by almost 37% (over a third). Overall, these fuel-free renewables accounted for 36.6% of UK supplies in 2025, up from 34.1% in 2024, beating fossil fuel generation for the second year in a row.
Research has found that more renewables connecting to the grid reduces the number of times that gas power stations set the price of electricity, and it is estimated that large wind farms cut the day-ahead wholesale price of electricity by a third last year.
Analysis has also shown that around 90% of the oil and gas that could be extracted from the North Sea has already been removed.
Dr Simon Cran-McGreehin, Head of Analysis at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), 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.
“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. The UK was particularly badly hurt by the last gas crisis because, 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.
“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.”
Image from Shutterstock
