The typical non-domestic building in England and Wales used 6,600 kWh of electricity in 2024, and 23,900 kWh of gas if it had mains gas, according to the government's figures. Use varies hugely with the type of building: the typical office used 4,600 kWh of electricity, the typical education building 42,900 kWh. Averages are much higher than these typical figures, because a small number of sites use a great deal.
Where these figures come from
The figures on this page come from the Non-domestic National Energy Efficiency Data-Framework, or ND-NEED, published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) on 30 September 2026. It matches annual consumption data for every electricity and gas meter to the Valuation Office's list of non-domestic properties used for business rates, in England and Wales, and the latest figures cover energy used in 2024. The results are weighted up from a sample of about 854,000 buildings with electricity data to the whole stock of around 1.77 million non-domestic buildings.
A few things to know before you compare:
- They cover England and Wales only, not Scotland or Northern Ireland.
- They cover electricity from the grid and mains gas only. Oil, LPG, biomass and electricity you generate on site aren't included.
- Gas figures only cover buildings with a gas meter, and they're adjusted for the weather.
- A building can contain several separately rated premises. ND-NEED counts buildings, and gives each one the use of the premises with the largest floor area.
"Typical" on this page means the median: half of buildings use more and half use less.
How much energy does the typical business building use?
In 2024, the median non-domestic building used:
- 6,600 kWh of electricity a year;
- 23,900 kWh of gas a year, among buildings with mains gas.
DESNZ's report gives a lower median for gas, 21,900 kWh. Its data tables, which our breakdowns by type and size of building come from, give 23,900 kWh, and they're based on a smaller sample: 283,000 buildings, against the 338,000 with gas data for 2024.
The government notes that 28% of the buildings in its sample use less electricity than an average home, which it puts at 3,300 kWh a year.
The mean, or average, is far higher: 64,400 kWh of electricity and 233,100 kWh of gas. DESNZ explains that the figures are skewed by a long tail of sites that use a great deal. Factories show it most clearly. The typical factory building used just 3,800 kWh of electricity in 2024, yet factories used 34 TWh between them, 28% of all non-domestic electricity, and the government says the top 2% of factories use 80% of the electricity that factories use.
So for a business comparing its own use, the typical (median) figure is the better guide.
How much energy does each type of business use?
These are the typical yearly figures per building for each type of use in ND-NEED, for 2024:
| Building use | Typical electricity use | Typical gas use |
|---|---|---|
| Arts, community and leisure | 7,300 kWh | 43,400 kWh |
| Education | 42,900 kWh | 141,000 kWh |
| Emergency services | 38,100 kWh | 132,800 kWh |
| Factories | 3,800 kWh | 26,200 kWh |
| Health | 13,900 kWh | 32,000 kWh |
| Hospitality | 10,000 kWh | 33,700 kWh |
| Offices | 4,600 kWh | 18,100 kWh |
| Shops | 7,900 kWh | 15,300 kWh |
| Warehouses | 5,800 kWh | 23,900 kWh |
| Other | 9,400 kWh | 36,000 kWh |
| All buildings | 6,600 kWh | 23,900 kWh |
What's in each group matters. In ND-NEED, hospitality includes hotels, guest houses, hostels, holiday homes, restaurants and pubs, and arts, community and leisure includes sports centres, cinemas, community centres and libraries. Education covers everything from nurseries to universities.
Buildings without mains gas
Not every business building has a gas connection, and the government has gas data for far fewer buildings: 338,000 in its 2024 sample, against 854,000 with electricity data. If your premises have no gas, compare only your electricity use. The figures include energy used for heating, so if you heat with electricity, your use may well be above the typical figure.
Energy use per square metre
A bigger building uses more energy, so a fairer comparison is use per square metre of floor space. These are the typical (median) figures for 2024:
| Building use | Electricity per m² | Gas per m² |
|---|---|---|
| Hospitality | 160 kWh | 279 kWh |
| Shops | 108 kWh | 190 kWh |
| Health | 82 kWh | 161 kWh |
| Offices | 63 kWh | 148 kWh |
| Education | 52 kWh | 155 kWh |
| Other | 43 kWh | 97 kWh |
| Arts, community and leisure | 28 kWh | 111 kWh |
| Factories | 27 kWh | 70 kWh |
| Warehouses | 25 kWh | 53 kWh |
| All buildings | 56 kWh | 139 kWh |
Hospitality uses the most energy for its size, then shops and health buildings. These figures only cover buildings with a floor area recorded. Two in three hospitality buildings have none, and ND-NEED leaves out the floor area of some types of building, including smaller hotels, pubs, leisure centres and pools. Emergency services are left out of this table, because fewer than 1,000 of them in the government's sample have floor area data.
What type of business uses the most energy?
It depends on how you measure it.
- In total, factories use the most. In 2024, they used 34 TWh of electricity, 28% of all non-domestic electricity, and 63 TWh of gas, 42% of the total.
- Per building, education and emergency services buildings use the most.
- Per square metre, hospitality uses the most, at 160 kWh of electricity and 279 kWh of gas.
Altogether, non-domestic buildings in England and Wales used 120 TWh of electricity and 151 TWh of gas in 2024.
How business energy use has changed since 2012
Typical use per building has fallen. ND-NEED's 2026 figures, which use the same set of buildings for every year back to 2012, show the median building's electricity use dropping from 9,700 kWh in 2012 to 6,600 kWh in 2024, and gas from 30,700 kWh to 23,900 kWh.
Total non-domestic electricity use fell from 147 TWh in 2012 to 120 TWh in 2024, and gas from 161 TWh to 151 TWh. DESNZ notes that earlier years are likely to be underestimated, because buildings that have since closed aren't included. Electricity use dipped sharply in 2020, when the typical building used 6,100 kWh, bounced back to 7,300 kWh in 2021, and has fallen since.
DESNZ revised its methods for the 2026 edition, so these figures aren't directly comparable with those published in ND-NEED 2025. Compare years within the same edition, as here.
Smaller buildings use more energy per square metre
The smallest buildings use the most energy for their size. A building of up to 50 m² typically uses 93 kWh of electricity and 388 kWh of gas per square metre a year, while a building over 5,000 m² uses about 41 kWh of electricity and 59 kWh of gas.
| Floor area | Electricity per m² | Gas per m² |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 50 m² | 93 kWh | 388 kWh |
| 50 to 100 m² | 64 kWh | 194 kWh |
| 100 to 250 m² | 45 kWh | 123 kWh |
| 250 to 500 m² | 44 kWh | 88 kWh |
| 500 to 1,000 m² | 42 kWh | 75 kWh |
| 1,000 to 5,000 m² | 41 kWh | 60 kWh |
| Over 5,000 m² | 41 kWh | 59 kWh |
Business size tells a slightly different story. Buildings used by the smallest businesses, those with fewer than 10 employees, typically use 67 kWh of electricity per square metre, the lowest of any business size, and 158 kWh of gas, the highest. DESNZ notes that business size is unknown for about half of buildings, so treat these as a rough guide.
How much electricity does a small business use?
There's no official figure for a "small business", but ND-NEED gives the best guide. The typical non-domestic building, most of which are small, uses 6,600 kWh of electricity a year. Of the buildings with floor area data, three in four are 250 m² or smaller.
For a small shop, office or café, the per square metre figures above are the most useful: multiply your floor area by the figure for your type of building. A 100 m² shop, for example, would use about 10,800 kWh of electricity a year at the typical use per square metre for shops (108 kWh).
How to compare your own energy use
- Add up your use for a year. Take the kWh from your electricity bills, and your gas bills if you have gas, for the last 12 months.
- Find your floor area. The government's Find a business rates valuation service shows the floor area used for many business properties. It won't for some, such as many hotels, pubs, leisure centres and pools, which aren't valued on floor area. If your building has an Energy Performance Certificate or a Display Energy Certificate, it shows the floor area.
- Work out your use per square metre. Divide your yearly kWh by your floor area.
- Compare it with the typical figure for your type of building and your floor area band, in the tables above. If you run a pub, or a hotel of 3 stars or under, compare your yearly use with the typical figure per building instead, because the per square metre figures leave these out.
If your figure is well above the typical one, it's worth finding out why. It may be your opening hours, your equipment or how you heat the building: the figures include energy used for heating, so electric heating shows up in your electricity use. Larger sites with half-hourly meters can see exactly when they use electricity.
To turn your use into a cost, our business energy prices page shows what businesses of each size pay per kWh, from the government's figures, and our business electricity and business gas pages explain what sets your own rates.
For more on energy use in particular types of business, see our sector pages for hotels, care homes, manufacturing, sport and leisure, and breweries. In ND-NEED's groups, hotels, pubs and restaurants come under hospitality, and sports centres come under arts, community and leisure. Hospitality uses the most energy per square metre, though that figure leaves out pubs and many hotels, because DESNZ removes their floor area. Manufacturing sites come under factories, where a few very high-consuming sites account for most of the energy used.
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Questions about business energy use
How much electricity does a business use a year?
The typical non-domestic building in England and Wales used 6,600 kWh of electricity in 2024, according to the government's ND-NEED figures. The average is much higher, at 64,400 kWh, because a few very high-consuming sites pull it up.
How much gas does a business use a year?
The typical non-domestic building in England and Wales with mains gas used 23,900 kWh of gas in 2024, according to the government's ND-NEED figures. Use varies widely, from 15,300 kWh for the typical shop to 141,000 kWh for the typical education building.
How much electricity does a small business use?
There's no official figure for small businesses, but the typical non-domestic building in England and Wales, most of which are small, used 6,600 kWh in 2024. Multiply your floor area by the typical use per square metre for your type of building to get a closer figure.
What type of business uses the most energy?
In England and Wales, factories use the most in total, with 28% of non-domestic electricity and 42% of gas in 2024. Per square metre, hospitality uses the most, at 160 kWh of electricity and 279 kWh of gas a year.
Why is average business energy use so much higher than typical use?
Because a small number of sites use a great deal of energy, which pulls the average up. The typical (median) figure is a better guide for comparing your own use.
How do I know if my business uses too much energy?
Divide your yearly kWh by your floor area, and compare the result with the typical figure for your type and size of building. If yours is well above it, look at your opening hours, equipment and heating.
Sources
- DESNZ, Non-domestic National Energy Efficiency Data-Framework (ND-NEED) 2026 (September 2026): the official statistics release, published 30 September 2026.
- DESNZ, ND-NEED 2026 report (September 2026): England and Wales; grid electricity and mains gas only; mean use per building of 64,400 kWh of electricity and 233,100 kWh of gas; skewed by a long tail of high-consuming sites; the top 2% of factories use 80% of factories' electricity; 28% of the buildings in the sample use less electricity than an average home (3,300 kWh); of buildings with floor area data, 74% are 250 m² or smaller; earlier years likely underestimated; 2024 figures not directly comparable with ND-NEED 2025; business size unknown for about half of buildings; hospitality has the highest median intensity.
- DESNZ, ND-NEED 2026 supporting data tables (September 2026): Tables 8A to 8D (total use by building use, and sample sizes), 9A to 9D (median use per m² by building use, and sample sizes; the workbook titles 9D as "Table 9B"), 11 (median use per m² by floor area), 13 (by business size), and 14A and 14C (median use per building by building use), for 2024 and, for the trend, 2012 to 2024. The median gas figure for all buildings in Table 14C (23,900 kWh) differs from the figure in the report's text (21,900 kWh); the report doesn't explain the difference, and its time-series section gives around 24,000 kWh, in line with the table, so we use the table.
- DESNZ, ND-NEED 2026 methodology (September 2026): annual meter consumption matched to the Valuation Office's non-domestic rating list; a building's use taken from the premises with the largest floor area; not all buildings have a gas connection; gas weather-corrected; the same building stock used for every year; the property types in each building use group; primary description code CX under "Other" (Annex C, Table 12); floor area removed for pubs, country house hotels and hotels of 3 stars and under, because it doesn't inform their rating (Annex D, Table 14).
- UK government, find a business rates valuation: floor areas used in business rates valuations.
- Valuation Office, Rating Manual: cold stores (stand alone) (updated 21 September 2026): stand-alone cold stores have primary description code CX, which the ND-NEED methodology (Annex C, Table 12) puts under "Other".