Editorial policy

What counts as a source

For anything about the law, we link to the law. That means the legislature's bill page, the enacted statute or chapter, the statutory instrument, or a regulator's own decision. News articles help us find these and cross-check them, but a news article alone is not enough to state a rule on a page.

For hardware we use the maker's own specification page, product standards bodies and official registers. Prices come from the seller's page, and we write down the date we saw them. For electricity prices and solar output we use the public datasets described in our methodology.

We do not copy text from other sites. Where we quote the law, we keep it short and link to the full text.

Numbers and dates

• Every figure on a page has a date and a source next to it, or in the sources list at the bottom.
• Legal claims carry a "last verified" date. Prices carry the date we saw them.
• If we do not know something, we say that. We do not fill the gap with a plausible guess.
• Where a figure is our own assumption, such as the share of solar power a household uses, we call it an assumption.

How often pages are updated

We aim to re-check each legal status at least once a week, and prices at least once a month. A bill moving between stages is the most common reason for a change. When a page changes in a way that matters, we update the date. When we only fix a typo, we do not, because a fresh date on an unchanged page would be a small lie.

When a law is signed, vetoed or comes into force, we update the affected state page first and write a news post second.

Money and independence

As of 13 Oct 2026 SocketSun runs no ads and has no affiliate links. If that changes, the affiliate disclosure will say exactly what and where.

These rules will hold whatever we earn:

• A company cannot pay to change a legal status, a ranking or a figure in the calculator.
• We will not accept free products in exchange for coverage without saying so on the page.
• Pages that earn money say so before the content they apply to, not at the bottom.

Brands and logos

We name products where readers would look for them, for example when we explain what a particular kit can and cannot do. We do not use manufacturer logos or product photos unless we have the right to. SocketSun is not affiliated with any kit maker, retailer or utility named on this site, and brand pages say so.

What we will not say

We will not tell you how to get around a rule, such as skipping a utility notice where one is required, or using a device that is not approved. We will not describe a safety matter as settled when the specification says otherwise. And we will not give you legal or electrical advice: we tell you what the rule says, link to it, and suggest a licensed (US) or registered (UK) electrician when your own wiring is part of the question.

If we get it wrong

1. If you tell us about an error through the contact page, we check it against the primary source before changing anything.
2. If you are right, we fix the page as quickly as we can. The fix is recorded on the corrections log, with the date, the page, what was wrong and what it says now.
3. If the mistake could have led someone to act on bad information, such as a wrong effective date, the log says so plainly and the page carries a note about the change.
4. If you are mistaken, we reply and explain, and show the source we relied on.

Who writes and reviews

We use AI tools to help with research, drafting and cross-checking. Whatever the tool, a rule only goes on a page after it has been checked against its primary source and a second source, as described in the methodology. We have not yet named individual authors on pages. We will, once the people behind them are ready to put their names to the work. Until then, the about page is where to find out who is responsible.