How to Collect Electricity Data for Your ESG Report

The Power Grid Explained as a Punch Bowl

Imagine a giant punch bowl. Every morning, thousands of people pour things into it: wind, coal, solar, biomass, and nuclear. It all ends up in the same punch and gets mixed together. When you stick your straw into the bowl and fire up the coffee machine at the office, you get a sip of the total mix.

That’s the power grid in a nutshell.

You can’t control what comes out of your wall socket — but you can find out how much of what you use is green. We’ll get to that.

What you need for your ESG report, at a high level, is:

• How much electricity your company has used in total, measured in MWh or similar
  
• What percentage of that electricity comes from renewable sources
  

Let’s dive into how to pull that information out of the punch bowl that is the power grid!

‍

How to Collect Electricity Data – Step-by-Step

1. Find the Right Person

The first step is figuring out who holds the information about your electricity consumption. It can vary from company to company, but in most cases, it looks like this:

• If you own the building: The admin or finance department will know where the data is stored
  
• If you lease the full office: Your contact at the leasing company will know
  
• If you share an office space (coworking): The office manager or operations staff will have access
  
  

Once you know who to ask, you’re ready to reach out.

‍

2. Send a Precise Request

Make it as easy as possible for the other person to help you — otherwise, you risk ending up in an exhausting email thread that drags on for weeks. Here's a sample email you can use to get the right information:

Subject: Request for electricity consumption data for ESG reporting

Hi [Name of contact],

We are in the process of preparing our ESG report and would like to request electricity consumption data for our tenancy at [Address].

We’re looking for the following data for the period [Start date – End date]:

• Electricity consumption in kWh or MWh
  
• The percentage of our electricity that comes from renewable sources
  
  

We would greatly appreciate it if you could send the information by [Date].

Thank you in advance,
[Your Name]

‍

3. When You Don’t Get What You Hoped For

Sometimes all you’ll get is a bill in Danish kroner — no kWh. Or you’ll receive data for the entire building even though you only use one office.

Here’s what you can do instead:

• Use a distribution key: Split the total electricity consumption based on number of m², number of employees, or number of desks.
  For example, if 100 full-time employees share a total amount of electricity, and you’re only 8 people from your company, your share is roughly 8% — and you can calculate your usage from that.
  
  
• Use a spend-based model: If you only have the amount paid, you can use electricity prices and emissions factors to estimate usage and CO₂.
  (It gets a bit more technical — so if you want to get it right, feel free to reach out to us at Wardn. We're happy to help.)
  
  

Always be transparent in your ESG report and explain your assumptions if you can’t get exact data.

‍

How Do You Know How Green Your Electricity Is?

If your electricity supplier provides a guarantee of origin (e.g. from wind or solar), you can usually find this on your invoice or by contacting customer service. You may also have been issued a certificate — your admin or finance team should know.

If not, use the official Danish electricity declaration, published annually. It tells you how much of Denmark’s electricity came from green sources — in other words, how much wind, water, and sun was poured into the punch bowl.

Here’s how it looked in 2022:

• 56% renewable energy
  
• 20% fossil fuels
  
• 24% imported electricity
  
  

Find the latest declaration here: www.energinet.dk

That said, more and more Danish electricity providers can now tell you exactly how much of your consumption was green — so the national declaration should be your last resort if neither your supplier nor elnet.dk can help.

Note: The declaration is often delayed, so you may need to assume the energy mix looks the same as the previous year in order to use it.

‍

Market-Based vs. Location-Based — Without the Headache

There are two ways to account for your electricity use — and the method you choose will affect your ESG result.

• Location-based: You use data from a defined area (e.g. a country, island, or municipality). In Denmark, this often means using the national electricity declaration — which gives you an average view of what’s in the punch bowl. You don’t know exactly how much of your electricity came from renewables, only the overall mix in your region.
  
  
• Market-based: You look at your actual electricity supplier. If you only buy from one or two providers, they can often tell you precisely how much of your power came from renewables. This gives you better data quality — it’s no longer an estimate, it’s based on your real energy profile.
  
  

If you have a 100% green supplier or have bought certificates to match your consumption, go with market-based
If you haven’t, use the location-based model

‍

Use www.elnet.dk – Your New Favorite Tool

If you want to find out how much electricity you've used, always start with www.elnet.dk. You’ll need a company MitID to log in — but from there, you can find everything you need for your ESG report, including:

• Who owns the grid in your area
  
• Who measures your consumption
  
• What data is available for your address
  
• How much electricity you've used
  
• How much of it came from renewables
  
• What kinds of renewables (wind, solar, hydro, etc.)
  
  

It’s free and public — and it’s the best place to start.

‍

Conclusion: Electricity Use Is Your ESG Superpower

Electricity is one of the most concrete and tangible datapoints you can include in your ESG report. And the best part? You're already using it — you just need to learn how to retrieve and apply the data.

With the right approach and a little structure, you can get it done in under an hour — and walk away with a clearer picture of your company’s environmental impact.

‍

Need help?
Book a virtual coffee with Anders, our CEO – no strings attached. 

‍