What the losses are
Some electricity is lost as heat in cables and transformers between the power station and your meter. The DESNZ methodology paper puts UK grid losses at about 9% of the electricity supplied in the data behind the 2026 factors. Power stations had to generate that lost electricity, and the emissions from generating it are what the "T&D losses" factor measures.
The government publishes the two parts separately. The main UK electricity factor covers electricity supplied to the grid, "not including the emissions associated with the transmission and distribution of electricity", and a second factor covers the losses. Added together, they give the emissions per kWh actually delivered to your building.
Scope 2 or Scope 3?
The GHG Protocol settles it. Its Corporate Standard says emissions from electricity lost in transmission and distribution are reported in Scope 2 by the company that owns or controls the T&D operation, and that end consumers don't report them in Scope 2 because they don't own or control the grid. Its Scope 3 Standard then lists "T&D losses, reported by end user" as part of category 3, fuel- and energy-related activities.
So for a business buying electricity:
- Scope 2: your kWh × 0.13096 (the 2026 grid factor)
- Scope 3, category 3: the same kWh × 0.01299 (the T&D losses factor)
Category 3 also holds the well-to-tank emissions of the fuels behind your electricity, so the two often appear together.
A worked example
An office uses 30,000 kWh of electricity in 2026:
- Scope 2: 30,000 × 0.13096 = 3.93 tonnes CO2e
- Scope 3, T&D losses: 30,000 × 0.01299 = 0.39 tonnes CO2e
Don't add the T&D figure to Scope 2. If a buyer or a questionnaire asks for Scope 2, give 3.93 tonnes, and show the losses under Scope 3.
The factor year by year
| Factor set | Grid electricity (Scope 2), kg per kWh | T&D losses (Scope 3), kg per kWh | Implied losses |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 0.44914 | 0.04111 | 8.4% |
| 2003 | 0.47034 | 0.04404 | 8.6% |
| 2004 | 0.4567 | 0.04109 | 8.3% |
| 2005 | 0.47853 | 0.04427 | 8.5% |
| 2006 | 0.47337 | 0.04516 | 8.7% |
| 2007 | 0.46673 | 0.03646 | 7.2% |
| 2008 | 0.49608 | 0.03857 | 7.2% |
| 2009 | 0.49381 | 0.0391 | 7.3% |
| 2010 | 0.48531 | 0.03908 | 7.5% |
| 2011 | 0.45205 | 0.03863 | 7.9% |
| 2012 | 0.46002 | 0.03634 | 7.3% |
| 2013 | 0.44548 | 0.03809 | 7.9% |
| 2014 | 0.49426 | 0.04322 | 8.0% |
| 2015 | 0.46219 | 0.03816 | 7.6% |
| 2016 | 0.41205 | 0.03727 | 8.3% |
| 2017 | 0.35156 | 0.03287 | 8.6% |
| 2018 | 0.28307 | 0.02413 | 7.9% |
| 2019 | 0.2556 | 0.0217 | 7.8% |
| 2020 | 0.23314 | 0.02005 | 7.9% |
| 2021 | 0.21233 | 0.01879 | 8.1% |
| 2022 | 0.19338 | 0.01769 | 8.4% |
| 2023 | 0.20707 | 0.01792 | 8.0% |
| 2024 | 0.20705 | 0.0183 | 8.1% |
| 2025 | 0.177 | 0.01853 | 9.5% |
| 2026 | 0.13096 | 0.01299 | 9.0% |
The losses factor falls with the grid factor, because lost electricity is generated the same way as the rest. The share lost moves around from year to year. Our post on why the UK grid gets cleaner every year explains the main factor, and the UK electricity factor page lists both for every year.
Things that trip people up
- Counting losses in Scope 2. It inflates Scope 2 and makes you hard to compare with other firms. Keep them in Scope 3.
- Applying them to on-site generation. Solar panels feeding your own building have no grid losses. Our post on rooftop solar and Scope 2 covers how to treat it.
- Forgetting heat networks. District heat has distribution losses too. The government set includes a factor for them: in 2026, 0.00945 kg CO2e per kWh of heat bought.
- Switching on and off between years. Decide whether you include category 3, say so in your method note and stick with it.
How Carbon Recycling helps
Carbon Recycling includes UK grid losses with a single setting. With it on, every electricity entry, every electric vehicle charged on the grid and every district heat entry gets a separate T&D line from the same year's government set, filed in Scope 3 category 3 and never mixed into Scope 2. For sites outside the UK, losses are left out, because no free source publishes them for every country. Try your own figure first in the free kWh to CO2e calculator by ticking the Scope 3 box.