This page explains how WattBackup articles are produced, who is accountable for them, and what happens when we get something wrong. It is deliberately specific, because in this subject a wrong number costs a reader real money or real safety.
How articles are produced
WattBackup articles are drafted with the assistance of AI, and every figure in them is traced to a primary source and recorded in a verification log before publication. We state this openly because hiding it would serve nobody. What matters is not which tool produced a sentence but whether the numbers in it are true, sourced and useful.
The production sequence is fixed and does not vary:
- A commission sheet defines the article: the question it answers, the tables it must contain, the sources it may use and the internal links it must carry.
- A full draft is produced against that specification.
- Every cited source is reopened and every numeric claim recomputed against it, and the result is written into a per-article verification log. That log separates what a script could confirm automatically from what still needs a named editor to sign, and it is not closed until a person has signed it.
- The article is published under a real byline, with a publication date and, thereafter, a visible last-updated date.
Where verification contradicts a published figure, the figure is corrected and the correction is recorded in the log, including on articles already live. An article that fails verification before publication is held back and rewritten. A held article costs an hour. A site that publishes unverified numbers at scale costs the whole project.
Source hierarchy
Not all sources are equal, and we rank them explicitly:
- Primary and official. FTC EnergyGuide labels, ENERGY STAR, manufacturer specification sheets and manuals, the US Energy Information Administration, Ofgem, the CPSC, the NFPA, the National Electrical Code, BS 7671, NOAA, and the text of the relevant statute.
- Aggregated official data, where a primary figure is unavailable, always identified as such.
- Verified owner reports, used only for durability and real-world behaviour, never for a headline specification.
Other blogs and content sites are not sources. If a figure can only be traced to another website, it does not go in a table. Where no reliable figure exists, the article says varies by model rather than inventing one.
Safety content
WattBackup does not publish step-by-step instructions for work inside an electrical service panel, on a utility connection, or on a transfer switch. We describe what the equipment does, what it costs, which code section governs it and what an inspection involves, and then we refer you to a licensed electrician. Articles touching electricity, fuel storage or carbon monoxide carry their own visible disclaimer and cite the CPSC, the NFPA or the applicable code directly.
Independence
We do not accept payment for coverage, for a recommendation, or for a position in a ranking. No manufacturer sees an article before it is published. No manufacturer has any right of review over what we write. Where a link earns an affiliate commission it is disclosed before the link, per our affiliate disclosure, and it does not influence the ordering of any recommendation.
Corrections
We will get things wrong. Specifications change, tariffs move, and codes are amended by state.
If you find an error, report it and tell us which figure and which page. Substantive corrections to a number are made as quickly as we can verify the correction, and the article’s last-updated date changes to reflect it. Where a correction materially changes the advice, we note what changed at the foot of the article rather than editing silently.
Updates
Cost and tariff figures are reviewed at least annually and whenever the underlying rate source publishes a significant change. Every article shows the date its figures were last checked.