Frequently asked questions
The short answers. For jargon and acronyms, see the glossary.
General
What is GridTradingDesk?
A browser game where you run "UK Energy Co," a fictional power generation business — trading, scheduling and optimising a fleet of coal, gas, wind, solar, hydro and battery assets against a live, computed electricity market. It's built to teach how UK electricity pricing actually works by playing, not by reading a textbook.
Is UK Energy Co a real company?
No. UK Energy Co, its fleet, and its balance sheet are entirely fictional, invented for the game. Some modes use real, publicly published UK grid data for realism (see "What's actually real in this game?" below), but you're never trading real money, and nothing here is a real energy supplier.
Who is this for? Do I need to know anything about energy first?
No background needed. It's built for anyone curious how electricity pricing works — students, people in or adjacent to the energy industry, or just someone who wants a few minutes of strategy each day. Every term you'll hit in the game has a tap-to-read explanation, and the full glossary covers the rest.
What's actually real in this game, and what's simulated?
The pricing mechanism is real: the game computes a genuine merit-order clearing price, the same way Great Britain's actual electricity market does. "Live UK Data" days go further and use real settlement prices and demand published by Elexon for that day. The six fixed Challenge Days are illustrative scenarios modelled on well-known UK grid patterns (a cold snap, a windy spring, a heatwave), not a literal replay of one specific date. Weather on any given day is always simulated. The homepage's live grid-mix widget shows Great Britain's actual generation mix and carbon intensity right now, pulled from NESO's public Carbon Intensity API. The full breakdown, including data sources, update times and what we simplify, is on the methodology page.
Playing the game
What do I actually do, day to day?
Each trading day runs across 48 half-hour settlement periods. You decide how to run your fleet — which plants to dispatch, when to charge or discharge a battery, whether to hedge tomorrow's position — watch the market clear in real time, and see the price, your profit, and your reliability score update as the day plays out. An end-of-day recap explains what actually happened and why.
How is the price set?
By merit order: cheapest plants run first, and the single clearing price for the half-hour is set by the most expensive plant still needed to meet demand. It's a real feature of how the GB market prices, not a simplification for the game.
What are Challenge Days, weekly challenges, and Live UK Data days?
Alternatives to the ordinary campaign: Challenge Days are six fixed, seeded scenarios everyone can be graded against fairly on a leaderboard; the weekly challenge rotates a new scenario every ISO week, seeded so it's identical for everyone that week; Live UK Data days use real, recently published Elexon settlement data for that specific date, with no leaderboard since every date is a one-off.
Is anything in this game financial or trading advice?
No. GridTradingDesk is an educational simulation. Nothing in it — including days that use real market data — should be treated as a real energy price, a market signal, or a recommendation about any real-world investment. See the Terms for the full statement.
Pricing & the free trial
How much does it cost?
Free for the first 7 days from when you sign up, then £4.99/month for the full game, billed until you cancel.
Do I need a card to start?
No — the 7-day trial starts automatically when you create an account, no payment details required. You only need to enter card details if you choose to keep playing after day 7.
What happens when the trial ends?
If you haven't subscribed, you can still sign in and see your existing profile and stats, but saving new progress, playing Live UK Data days, and submitting leaderboard scores all pause until you subscribe. Nothing is deleted.
Can I cancel any time?
Yes, whenever you like, from Settings → Plan & billing, which opens Stripe's own billing portal. Cancelling stops future billing but doesn't refund the current billing period, except where UK consumer law requires it.
Do you store my card details?
No. Payments are handled entirely by Stripe — GridTradingDesk never sees or stores your card number.
Accounts & your data
Do I need an account to play?
You can try a limited amount without one. An account (just an email and password) is needed to save progress across devices, take part in leaderboards and Challenge Days, and subscribe.
What data do you actually collect?
Your email, a securely hashed password, your game save, and any feedback you send. That's it — there's no analytics or tracking of any kind in the game. Full detail is in the Privacy Policy.
Can I export or delete my data?
Yes, any time, from account settings — "Download my data" gives you everything tied to your account, and "Delete account" removes it permanently.
Technical & support
Does it work on my phone?
Yes — the site is fully responsive, and the game can be installed as a Progressive Web App on both iOS and Android (look for "Add to Home Screen" in your browser's share menu), so it opens like a normal app and keeps working with a spotty connection.
What browsers are supported?
Any modern browser — Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, on desktop or mobile. There's no install or build step; it just runs.
Something's broken, or I've got an idea for the game. Where do I tell you?
The feedback form — bug reports, feature requests, gameplay balance and general feedback all go straight to the person who built this. You'll get an auto-confirmation with a reference number, and a real read.
Where do the real prices and grid data come from?
Elexon's Insights Solution (settlement prices and demand), NESO's Data Portal and Carbon Intensity API (generation mix and carbon intensity), and Ofgem (market statistics). All public, all linked from the bottom of the glossary.