Non-domestic National Energy Efficiency Data-Framework 2023
Source: environment.data.gov.uk (2025-08-21)

Non-domestic National Energy Efficiency Data-Framework (ND-NEED). The National Energy Efficiency Data-Framework was set up to provide a better understanding of energy use and intensity in domestic and non-domestic buildings.

These documents provide data on non-domestic energy use.

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The Non-Domestic National Energy Efficiency Data-Framework
2023 (England and Wales)
24 August 2023 Official Statistics

This report summarises analysis of the non-domestic building stock and non-domestic
building energy consumption in England and Wales using the latest version of the Non-
Domestic National Energy Efficiency Data-Framework (ND-NEED).

Key Messages:
•
Total electricity consumption increased by 6% in 2021 compared to 2020, although this
is still an overall decrease of 4% from 2019. The significant increase in Hospitality (28%)
and Arts, Community and Leisure (17%) reflects the bounce back from the COVID-19
pandemic following the notable falls in consumption seen in 2020.
•
Total gas consumption decreased slightly in 2021 compared to 2020 (less than 1%
decrease). Although the consumption for most sectors fell in 2021, there were notable
increases in the Hospitality and the Arts, Communities and Leisure sectors, which grew
by 24% and 16% respectively.

Figure 1: The change in electricity and gas consumption in 2021 compared to 2020
by building use

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•
Both non-domestic building energy consumption and energy intensity – the average
kilowatt hour consumed per meter square of floor area – varies by building use.
However, the distribution across the two is different:
o The building uses with the highest median electricity and gas intensities are
Hospitality, Shops and Health.
o Whereas for both electricity and gas, the highest consuming building use
(excluding Other) is Factories (31% and 35%). For electricity, this is followed by
Offices (14%) and Shops (13%) For gas, this is followed by Education (9%),
Hospitality (8%) and Offices (8%)
•
A small proportion of the highest consumers (7% for electricity, 5% for gas) are
responsible for the majority (80%) of consumption.
o Similarly, for both electricity and gas, the combined consumption generally
increases as building size band increases. Buildings over 1,000m2 are
responsible for 62% of electricity consumption and 70% of gas consumption,
despite both making up around 7% of non-domestic buildings (excluding
buildings missing floor area information).
•
The composition of the building stock varies with building age. Shops account for the
largest share of older buildings (pre-1970), with Offices the most typical of late 20th /
earlier 21st century constructions. Warehouses have gradually become more prevalent
and account for one-quarter of non-domestic buildings constructed since 2020.

What you need to know about these statistics
The statistics in ND-NEED cover all non-domestic buildings in England and Wales,
under the ND-NEED definition. Information on the non-domestic building stock
reflects the position at the end of March 2023. Information on energy consumption
covers 2012 to 2021, and comprises electricity and gas consumed via the public
distribution system (onsite generated electricity consumption is not included).

Responsible statistician: James Hemingway Media enquiries: xx-xxxx-xxxx
Email: xxx@xxx.xx Statistical enquiries: xx-xxxx-xxxx

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Figure 2: Summary graphics of the key ND-NEED 2023 results1.

2020 versus 2021 Electricity consumption and intensity

2020 versus 2021 Gas consumption and intensity

Electricity and gas consumption over time

1 Small values, close to zero, may not be visible.

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Electricity and gas consumption by building use

Electricity and gas median intensity by building use
*Arts, Community and Leisure

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Contents
Contents ............................................................................................................................... 5
1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 6
2. Results ............................................................................................................................. 9
England and Wales non-domestic building stock .............................................................. 9
Non-domestic buildings by building use ........................................................................ 9
Non-domestic buildings by year of construction ...........................................................15
Non-domestic buildings by year of construction and building use ................................16
Non-domestic buildings by business size .....................................................................18
England and Wales non-domestic building energy consumption/intensity .......................19
Non-domestic energy consumption by building use .....................................................20
Non-domestic energy intensity by building use ............................................................34
Non-domestic energy consumption by building size ....................................................37
Non-domestic energy intensity by building size ............................................................39
Non-domestic energy consumption by business size ...................................................40
Non-domestic energy intensity by business size ..........................................................43
How has energy consumption/intensity in non-domestic buildings changed over time
(2012 – 2021)? ................................................................................................................44
Electricity consumption.................................................................................................45
Gas consumption .........................................................................................................49
Investigating consumption from buildings with low-consuming non-domestic meters ......51
Electricity consumption.................................................................................................51
Gas consumption .........................................................................................................52
Comparing the results in ND-NEED to comparable figures from other publications ........55
Consumption by building use .......................................................................................55
Consumption over time ................................................................................................57
Main limitations of ND-NEED ..............................................................................................59
Accompanying tables ..........................................................................................................62
Revisions policy ...................................................................................................................63
User engagement ................................................................................................................63
Contact ................................................................................................................................63

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1. Introduction
The Non-Domestic National Energy Efficiency Data-Framework 2023 (ND-NEED 2023)
provides an insight into the electricity and gas consumption/intensity of non-domestic
buildings in England and Wales in 2021 (split by sector, building size and occupying
business size) and how this has changed over time. It also provides new information on the
non-domestic building stock, with a breakdown of non-domestic buildings by year of
construction and occupying business size.

Further information on the number of buildings in the non-domestic building stock and non-
domestic floor area first published in ND-NEED 2020 is also available.
ND-NEED is based on the Valuation Office Agency (VOA)’s list of all non-domestic
premises (“hereditaments”) in England and Wales (the non-domestic ratings list (NDR)) and
the VOA’s summary valuation data (SMV) which contains information on the premises’
size2. Whilst ND-NEED 2022 used the position of the 2017 NDR/SMV as at the end of
March 2022, this updates the picture to the middle of March 20233.
The NDR/SMV dataset received from VOA comprises 2,144,000 hereditaments across
England and Wales4. However, in ND-NEED, the NDR/SMV data are aggregated to the
building level (Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN)). The data are used, following
further processing, to provide information about the number, floor area and age of buildings
in the ND-NEED non-domestic building stock. Each building is also assigned to one of the
10 sectors used in ND-NEED, based on the building use provided in the NDR/SMV data.
This dataset covers all the 1,763,000 buildings5 in the ND-NEED non-domestic building
population.
The non-domestic building stock is then matched to information on electricity and gas
consumption (2012-2021) at meter point level, held by the Department for Energy Security
and Net Zero (DESNZ). This gives a large sample of 903,000 non-domestic buildings with
electricity consumption data (for at least one of these years) and 390,000 non-domestic
buildings with gas consumption data. This sample is then matched to business data6 to
provide information on the size, measured by the number of employees, of the business
occupying a building.
The matched dataset can then be used to analyse the electricity/gas consumption/intensity
of non-domestic buildings from a large sample size. The sample contains information on
building use, building size and occupying business size (for those successfully matched) so
the consumption data can be disaggregated by these characteristics. The resulting

2 The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) have been given access to this data via a legal
gateway (specified in an information sharing agreement), and securely receives this data directly from the
VOA.
3 VOA presents statistics on non-domestic properties (numbers and floor space) on a hereditament basis.
4 This figure will differ slightly from the updated 2023 VOA figure based on time of download. ND-NEED 2023
updates the picture up to mid-March whereas the VOA updates as at March 31 2023.
5 This excludes all non-buildings, as well as the 130,000 hereditaments that do not have UPRNs.
6 Business data, such as employment figures, are obtained from the Interdepartmental Business Register
(IDBR).

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consumption data for the sample are then weighted to be representative of the population
level.
More information about producing the ND-NEED sample and the weighting process can be
found in the accompanying Methodology note. The next update to ND-NEED is currently
planned for the summer of 2024.

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Uses of ND-NEED
ND-NEED is used within and beyond government as a central part of the evidence base to
provide insights on the energy consumption trends of non-domestic buildings across a
range of building and business characteristics. Within DESNZ, this data is used to inform
the development of energy security and decarbonisation policies, in addition to the
monitoring and evaluation of current DESNZ policies. Beyond government, ND-NEED is
used by various stakeholders including academics and industry to review trends and
support further analysis related to energy efficiency and buildings decarbonisation.
This publication covers non-domestic buildings and consumption only. Domestic energy
consumption is analysed the Domestic NEED framework. Further examples of the
questions that can and cannot be answered using ND-NEED 2023 are set out below.
What questions can be answered by ND-NEED 2023?
•
How does non-domestic electricity/gas consumption/intensity vary by building use,
building size and occupying business size?
•
How has electricity/gas meter consumption/intensity of non-domestic buildings
changed over time (2012-2021)?
•
How many non-domestic buildings are there in England and Wales and how do they
breakdown by building use and building size?
•
What is the floor area of non-domestic buildings in England and Wales and how
does this breakdown by building use and building size?
•
How does the non-domestic building stock breakdown by year of construction, and
occupying business size?
What questions cannot be answered by ND-NEED 2023?
•
What is the electricity/gas consumption/intensity of non-domestic buildings in
Scotland and Northern Ireland?
•
What are non-domestic buildings using their energy for (e.g. is energy used for
heating/lighting/industrial processes etc.)?
•
How much of other fuels (e.g. biomass/LPG/oil) do non-domestic buildings
consume?
•
How much energy generated onsite is consumed by non-domestic buildings?
•
How does non-domestic building energy use differ between rented/owner-occupied
buildings?
Further information related to these questions can be found in Energy Consumption in the
UK (ECUK), the Building Energy Efficiency Survey (BEES) and the (DUKES), while the
subnational electricity and gas consumption statistics provide information on meter point
consumption for all four UK countries (see a comparison of relevant figures from other
publications here).

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2. Results
England and Wales non-domestic building stock
In ND-NEED a building is defined as a property that has a unique property reference
number (UPRN). In general, each building has a distinct UPRN, so the information
presented in ND-NEED can be considered to be at the building level.
There are however a few exceptions to this. Where a single physical structure contains
multiple properties with UPRNs e.g. a shopping centre containing multiple shops each
with distinct UPRNs, then this is considered to be multiple buildings in ND-NEED.
Where multiple physical structures have a single UPRN e.g. a university campus or a
hospital, then this is considered to be a single building in ND-NEED.
Under the ND-NEED definition, there were 1,763,000, non-domestic
buildings in England and Wales at the end of March 2023. This is an
increase of 0.5% on the end-March 2022 figure of 1,755,000.
However, this increase does not account for the 17,000 existing
buildings that now have a UPRN attached to them. Meaning that there
has been a net reduction in the overall building numbers. Further
information on this, and other, revisions can be found in the
accompanying Methodology note.
There are some building types that are not covered by the ND-NEED
figures. These are:
• Agricultural Buildings, Places of Worship and Prisons
as these are not included in the VOA’s list of non-
domestic properties (the NDR) that ND-NEED is based
on. It is estimated these building types make up 4% of
non-domestic buildings in England and Wales7.
• Caravan Parks, Advertising Premises8, Car Parks, Beach Huts, Quarries, and
Telecoms9. These are included in the NDR but are not considered to be buildings in
ND-NEED and so are excluded. The exclusion of these ‘non-buildings’ from ND-
NEED reduces the number of buildings in the stock by 7%.
Non-domestic buildings by building use
According to the definition of a building in ND-NEED, within a single building there may be
several building uses. Where this is the case, the building use is assigned to that of the
component premises (“hereditament”) that has the largest floor area.

7 Figures based on the UCL Carb model, UCL’s non-domestic energy use model which provides estimates of
total number of buildings for different building types.
8 Places uses for advertisement e.g. roundabout adverts, bus shelter adverts, advertising banners.
9 Places used for communication e.g. communication stations, public telephones, telephone exchanges.
The number of ND-NEED
non-domestic buildings in
England and Wales, end
of March 2023
1,763,000
Non-domestic
buildings

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This will have a distorting effect on the building stock figures as uses that often occur as the
smaller use (by floor area) in mixed used buildings will be underestimated. However, as
only 2% of buildings in the ND-NEED building stock contain multiple hereditaments, the
impact of this distortion on the building stock figures presented in ND-NEED is likely to be
negligible.
The breakdown of non-domestic buildings in England and Wales by building use can be
seen in Figure 3.
Figure 3: The number of ND-NEED non-domestic buildings in England and Wales by
building use (as at end of March 2023)
*ACL is an abbreviation for Arts, Community and Leisure
Shops are the largest building use category with 496,000 buildings (28% of non-domestic
buildings in England and Wales). The next largest category is Offices with 357,000
buildings (20% of all non-domestic buildings in England and Wales), then Factories with
240,000 (14% of non-domestic buildings in England and Wales)10
Floor area of non-domestic buildings by building use
The combined floor area of all non-domestic buildings in ND-NEED for which floor area
information is available is 617,696,000 m2 (see Table 1)11. Of the 1,763,000 buildings in
ND-NEED, 329,000 (19%) do not have floor area information. Because of this, all floor area

10 Further information on the composition of the building use types can be found in the accompanying
Methodology note (Annex C).
11 This figure will differ from VOA’s non-domestic floor area statistics due to methodology differences,
including differences in the building types where floor areas are removed – see Methodology Annex D

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information presented here should be treated with caution as it will be an underestimate.
The three reasons that buildings may be missing floor area information are:
1. Some non-domestic buildings do not have floor area information available in the SMV
data.
2. If a hereditament in a non-domestic building has a floor area of less than 15m2 in the
SMV it is treated as having no floor area information in ND-NEED.
3. If non-domestic buildings fall into a building use category where floor area data does not
inform the VOA rating, then it is treated as having no floor area data in ND-NEED. This
means that there are some distortions in the floor area by building use figures, as some
building uses will have more floor area information excluded than others. However, this
distortion is likely to be small because the excluded building use categories are very
diverse and include buildings in all building use categories.
Table 1: The total floor area of ND-NEED non-domestic buildings in England and
Wales by building use (as at end of March 2023).
Building use type
Total floor area (m2)
Proportion of total floor
area
Arts, Community and Leisure
15,303,000
2%
Education
3,852,000
1%
Emergency Services
150,000
0%
Factories
150,037,000
24%
Health
2,341,000
0%
Hospitality
13,281,000
2%
Offices
73,289,000
12%
Shops
98,923,000
16%
Warehouses
214,055,000
35%
Other
46,465,000
8%
Total
617,696,000
100%

From Table 1, we can see that Warehouses are the building use which occupies the largest
floor area, with over a third of non-domestic floor area. This is followed by Factories,
occupying a quarter of non-domestic floor area, and Shops occupying 16%.

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We can also compare the number of buildings in a building use category and the floor area
that the building use category occupies. From Figure 4, we can see that for several sectors
there are substantial differences in the share of building use between the two measures.
Both Warehouses and Factories occupy a greater proportion of non-domestic floor area
than their share of the total number of non-domestic buildings. This is because these
building uses typically occupy large sites. For all other building use sectors, the proportion
of the total number of non-domestic buildings that they occupy is larger than their share of
the non-domestic floor area (except for Other where the share is marginally greater). This is
most prominent for Shops, Hospitality and Offices.
Note, the proportions presented are only based on the non-domestic buildings
where floor area information is available. They therefore implicitly assume that the
building size distribution of the buildings that are missing building size information is
the same as that of those with this information (see Table 13 in the accompanying
Methodology note).

Figure 4: The share of ND-NEED non-domestic building number and floor area by
building use (as at end of March 2023).

Number of non-domestic buildings by building size
The breakdown of the number of non-domestic buildings in England and Wales by building
size can be seen in Figure 5.

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Figure 5: The number of ND-NEED non-domestic buildings in England and Wales by
building size (as at end of March 2023).

The general trend is that as building size increases, the number of non-domestic buildings
decreases. This is true even though the building size categories used in ND-NEED are
wider for larger business sizes.
Almost 74% of non-domestic buildings in England and Wales (for which floor area
information is available) have a floor area of less than 250m2, and more than 93% have a
floor area of less than 1,000m2.
Note, because 329,000 (19%) of non-domestic buildings in ND-NEED are missing building
size information, the number of buildings in each size category is likely to be an
underestimate as some buildings in the missing category will fall into them as well.

Floor area of non-domestic buildings by building size
The total floor area of non-domestic buildings in each floor area band is given in Table 2.
This shows that larger buildings occupy a greater proportion of non-domestic floor area
than smaller buildings. This is despite there being fewer larger buildings in the non-
domestic building stock.

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Note, the proportions presented are only based on the non-domestic buildings
where floor area information is available. They therefore implicitly assume that the
building size distribution of the buildings that are missing building size information is
the same as that of those with this information.

Table 2: The total floor area of ND-NEED non-domestic buildings in England and
Wales by building size (as at end of March 2023).
Building size
Total floor area (m2)
Proportion of total floor
area
0 - 50m2
10,404,000
2%
>50 - 100m2
25,758,000
4%
>100 - 250m2
61,033,000
10%
>250 - 500m2
62,273,000
10%
>500 – 1000m2
66,674,000
11%
>1000m2 – 5000m2
167,358,000
27%
>5000 m2
224,195,000
36%
Total
617,696,000
100%

Figure 6 shows the divergent trends in the share of buildings and total floor area by building
size. Although the greatest share of buildings have floor area between 100-250 m2, this
then reduces as floor area increases. The opposite is true of floor area trends, where the
share of floor area increases alongside the floor area band.

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Figure 6: The share of ND-NEED non-domestic building number and floor area by
building size (as at end of March 2023).

Non-domestic buildings by year of construction
The ND-NEED non-domestic building stock can be split by year of construction. This is
carried out by using the building age variable in the VOA’s NDR list, which provides
information on when each building was completed.
Figure 7: Breakdown of the ND-NEED non-domestic building stock in England and
Wales by year of construction.

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Note, since the building stock data are as at end of March 2023, data for 2023 (and
possibly 2022, due to lags) is not complete. This means that the number of buildings
constructed will be underestimated.
From Figure 7 we can see that 20% of non-domestic buildings in the ND-NEED non-
domestic building stock (with year of construction information available) were built before
1900, and over half (59%) were built before 1970. As building practices and standards,
particularly around energy efficiency, have changed over time this has implications for the
measures that will be needed to decarbonise the non-domestic building stock.
Non-domestic buildings by year of construction and building use
Breaking down the year of construction by building use shows us what types of buildings sit
in these categories. Figure 8 shows that Shops make up the greatest share of buildings that
were constructed before 1970 but have had a lower share of new buildings since then.
Similarly, the share of Factories and Warehouses grew up to 1995 before decreasing
slightly, although the share of Warehouses has rebounded in recent years (2020-2023).
Offices on the other hand have remained relatively consistent.
Figure 8: Breakdown of the ND-NEED non-domestic building stock in England and
Wales, by year of construction and building use.

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Rate of non-domestic building construction
By looking at the year buildings in the ND-NEED building stock were constructed we can
also gain insight into how the rate of non-domestic building construction has changed over
time (see Figure 9).
Figure 9: Number of buildings in the ND-NEED non-domestic building stock
constructed between 1900 and 2020 in England and Wales, by number and floor area.
Note, Figure 9 uses a smoothed line graph. For buildings built between 1900 and 1970
(inclusive) where data is only available as bands covering a period of several years, the
data is averaged over that time period and plotted for the middle year. For years between
1971 and 2021 (inclusive), the data is presented as a 3-year rolling average. As, for 2022
and 2023 year of construction data are incomplete, these years have been omitted. This
does not include the 267,000 buildings missing year of construction data, or 418,000
buildings built pre-1900.
Figure 9 shows that there is a general trend that the rate of construction of the buildings in
the non-domestic building stock (as at end of March 2023) increased steeply between 1940
and 1970 and has remained at a new higher level since then, though there is substantial
year to year variation.
This could reflect an increase in the total rate of non-domestic building construction in this
time period, but it is important to note that this data does not capture buildings that were
built between 1900 and 2021, but that were removed from the stock before 2021 (e.g.
buildings that were demolished, buildings that were repurposed for domestic use etc.)
which is likely to disproportionately affect older buildings.
There is also evidence that the rate of construction of buildings in the non-domestic building
stock (as at end of March 2023) is impacted by economic and other events, with a
substantial fall in construction seen around the 1990 and 2008 recessions and during the
the COVID-19 pandemic in2020 and 2021 (there was an 14% decrease in the number of
non-domestic buildings built in comparison to 2019, and a 28% decrease in 2021). This
trend is seen across all ND-NEED building uses.

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The average rate of construction of buildings in the non-domestic building stock (as at end
of March 2023) between 2010 and 2021 inclusive was 8,000 buildings per year,
representing 0.5% of the building stock in ND-NEED with year of construction data. The
construction rate in 2010 to 2021 is lower than in previous years, with evidence of a
reduction in the rate of non-domestic building construction in 2008, potentially due to the
2008 financial crash.
Figure 9 also provides information on the rate of floor area construction in buildings in the
non-domestic building stock (as at end of March 2023). By comparing this to the rate of
non-domestic building construction this can provide an insight into changes in the average
size of new non-domestic buildings.
This provides some evidence that the average size of non-domestic buildings in the non-
domestic building stock (as at end of March 2023) has increased over time. For example,
around 11,000 buildings were built in each of 1958, 1971 and 2002, with the average floor
area increasing from 400m2 to 700m2 and then to 800 m2.12
We can also analyse the change in the building stock by looking at the number of newly
constructed buildings, compared with those that have left the ND-NEED stock, either
through demolition, (temporary or permanent) closure or repurpose (including conversion to
domestic use). This shows that there were 53,000 additional buildings at March 2023
compared to March 2022. The analysis also shows that there were 46,000 buildings which
were removed from the stock in the same period, which gives a net additions figure of
8,000. However, the 53,000 increase does not account for the 17,000 fewer buildings that
do not have a UPRN allocated to them (further details on revisions to the building stock are
included in the accompanying Methodology note). Meaning that there has been a net
reduction in the overall building numbers of around 9,000, with only hospitality showing a
net increase in building numbers (at around 3,000 buildings).

Non-domestic buildings by business size
Business size information is obtained by matching the Interdepartmental Business Register
(IDBR) business characteristics data to the 1,763,000 ND-NEED non-domestic buildings in
the building stock. This gives the breakdown of the non-domestic building stock by business
size that can be seen in Figure 10.
Note, the number of employees refers to the number of employees employed by the
business as a whole, not just the employees that work in the building. This means that
small branches of larger businesses e.g. a corner shop that is part of a national chain,
will be in the larger categories.

12 This trend is not driven by missing floor area data in ND-NEED since the proportion of buildings missing this
is relatively constant across building ages, with slightly more floor area data missing from newer buildings.

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Figure 10: Breakdown of the ND-NEED non-domestic building stock in England and
Wales by business size.

Figure 10 shows that most non-domestic buildings (for which business size data are
available) are occupied by SMEs (<250 employees), with micro businesses (<10
employees) being the most common business size. However, around 70% of the buildings
in the non-domestic building stock are missing business size information.
There are two reasons why buildings cannot be matched to business size information:
1. The UPRN of the corresponding building is missing from the IDBR dataset, either
because the building itself is missing; or

2. The building is in the IDBR dataset, but we are unable to match it to its
corresponding UPRN. This means the business size cannot be matched to the
building.

Given the high number of buildings missing business size information, the number of
buildings occupied by a business of a particular size, across all categories is likely to be
underestimated. It is also possible that the true pattern of distribution of businesses in the
non-domestic building stock is different from what is presented here. This means these
estimates should be used with caution as they are associated with substantial uncertainty.
England and Wales non-domestic building energy
consumption/intensity
According to ND-NEED, in total non-domestic buildings in England and Wales used 127
TWh of electricity and 150 TWh of gas in 2021 (the most recent year for which data are
available).
Note, electricity consumption data is recorded per calendar year, whereas gas
consumption data covers mid-May to mid-May.
These consumption figures are based on the 2021 sample (864,000 buildings for electricity
consumption and 357,000 for gas consumption) of the ND-NEED building stock that was
successfully matched to electricity and gas meter-point data (gas consumption figures are
temperature corrected). This sample is then weighted to be representative of the population
(over 1.8 million buildings). More information about the sampling and weighting process in
ND-NEED can be found in the accompanying Methodology note.

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Note, these figures are not directly comparable to the yearly consumption figures
published in ND-NEED 2022 due to methodological revisions. For more information on
these revisions please see the accompanying Methodology note. For comparable
figures for 2020 consumption, please see the consumption time series in Table 8 of
the accompanying data tables.
Because the consumption figures are based on meter-point data, any energy consumed
that is not via the electricity or gas grid (e.g. energy generated onsite from renewables) is
not included. According to the Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES)13 89% of non-
domestic building electricity consumption was from the grid in 2021.
The fact that ND-NEED is based on meter-point data also means that the consumption
figures cover all grid energy consumed by a non-domestic building, regardless of end-use
e.g. heating, lighting, industrial processes etc. This is different from some other publications
such as the Building Energy Efficiency Survey (BEES) which only covers energy consumed
by the building itself e.g. heating, lighting, but not energy consumed by activities within the
building e.g. industrial processes.

Non-domestic energy consumption by building use
Electricity consumption
Figure 11: The electricity consumption of ND-NEED non-domestic buildings in
England and Wales by building use, 2021.

Figure 11 shows non-domestic building electricity consumption by building use. It shows
that Factories are the building use that consumes the most electricity (39 TWh in 2021).

13 DUKES, Table 5.2, Sectors: Industry, Commercial, Public administration used as a proxy for non-domestic
buildings. Public Distribution System as a share of Total Consumption.

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This more than twice the consumption of the next highest consuming building use, Offices
(18 TWh).

This is despite there being more Shops (354,000) and Offices (84,000) combined than
there are Factories (97,000) in England and Wales. This suggests that Factories are
carrying out processes that have high electricity demands (such as industrial processes
whose energy consumption is captured in ND-NEED).
Distributional analysis: Electricity consumption
ND-NEED 2023 can also provide further information about how electricity consumption is
distributed within the non-domestic building stock. This analysis is based on the ND-NEED
2023 sample that is weighted to be representative of the non-domestic building population
(for more information see the accompanying Methodology note. For example, we can look
at the frequency of different electricity consumption values.
Figure 12: Frequency of different electricity consumption values for all non-domestic
buildings, 2021.

Note: This histogram has unweighted electricity consumption on the x-axis (ascending
order), shown on a base-10 log scale. The y-axis shows a frequency count, that is the
weighted number of buildings that have electricity consumption 2021 values within the
corresponding consumption band.
Figure 12 plots electricity consumption against the frequency of buildings whose
consumption falls within that band. The highest bar on the chart represents consumption
between 3,160 kWh (103.5 kWh) and 10,000 kWh (104 kWh) per year. This means that
Figure 12 shows that a plurality of buildings consume between 3,160 kWh (103.5 kWh) and

22

10,000 kWh (104 kWh) per year, and fewer buildings have consumption at either the lower
or higher extremes.
There are also a substantial number of buildings whose consumption is lower than average
domestic consumption (3,500 kWh)14 2021. This is 23% of buildings in the ND-NEED
sample.
Note, that the distribution in Figure 12 is on a log-10 scale. This is because the
underlying data is very positively skewed with a long tail of high-consuming sites. This
positive skew can also be seen in the data when you look at the comparison between
the weighted median electricity consumption and the weighted mean electricity
consumption. The weighted median electricity consumption of non-domestic buildings
is 7,200 kWh, compared to a weighted mean electricity consumption of 66,600 kWh.

We can also present the data in Figure 12 split by building use. Figure 13 shows that the
distribution of electricity consumption remains broadly similar between sectors, with a peak
of buildings with similar electricity consumption values, and fewer buildings with both lower
and higher electricity consumption.
There are however some differences between building uses. Factories, Offices and Shops
have a longer tail compared to Hospitality, showing that there are proportionally more very
high and very low consuming Factories, Offices and Shops. The smaller tails and more
uniform distribution of the Hospitality sector distribution suggest that Hospitality buildings
have more homogenous electricity consumption than the other sectors.

14 Subnational electricity and gas consumption summary report 2021.

23

Figure 13: Frequency of different electricity consumption values, by building use,
2021.
Note: This histogram has unweighted electricity consumption on the x-axis (ascending
order), shown on a base-10 log scale. The y-axis shows a frequency count, that is the
weighted number of buildings that have electricity consumption 2021 values within the
corresponding consumption band.

Another way we can look at the distribution of electricity consumption in ND-NEED is
looking at the proportion of total electricity consumption that comes from a given proportion
of the building stock. This will help us to understand the impact of the small number of high
consuming sites (identified above) on total electricity consumption.

24

Figure 14: The proportion of the building stock (in ascending consumption order)
against the proportion of total electricity consumption, 2021.

Note: This cumulative distribution plot has the proportion of buildings in the ND-NEED
sample with 2021 electricity consumption on the x-axis (ordered by unweighted electricity
consumption). The y-axis shows the proportion of weighted 2021 electricity consumption
that these buildings are consuming.

From Figure 14 we can see that the majority of non-domestic building electricity
consumption comes from a minority of non-domestic buildings (80% of consumption comes
from the 7% highest consuming buildings). This shows that the small number of high
consuming sites identified in Figure 14 have a substantial impact on total electricity
consumption. This is also demonstrated in Table 3a, which shows that the lowest 10% of
electricity consumption (accounting for 13 TWh) is consumed by 78% of buildings in the
2021 sample.

25

Table 3a: Cumulative electricity consumption and number of buildings by
consumption percentile, 2021
Consumption
Percentile
Cumulative
Consumption
(TWh)
Number of
buildings in the
sample
(Cumulative)
Percentage of
building sample (%)
10%
13
677,000
78.3%
20%
25
800,000
92.5%
30%
38
840,000
97.1%
40%
51
855,000
98.9%
50%
63
861,000
99.6%
60%
76
863,000
99.8%
70%
89
864,000
99.9%
80%
101
864,000
100.0%
90%
114
864,000
100.0%
100%
127
864,000
100.0%

Table 3b presents the data in Figure 14 from the opposite angle. By looking at cumulative
consumption by the building percentiles, it shows that 90% of the buildings, in ascending
consumption order, account for only 22 TWh (17%) of the total 127 TWh electricity
consumption.

26

Table 3b: Cumulative number of buildings and electricity consumption by building
percentile, 2021
Building
Percentile
Cumulative Number
of buildings
Cumulative
Consumption (TWh)
Percentage of
Consumption (%)
10%
86,000
0.2
0.1%
20%
173,000
0.6
0.5%
30%
259,000
1
1.2%
40%
346,000
3
2.1%
50%
432,000
4
3.3%
60%
519,000
6
5.0%
70%
605,000
9
7.3%
80%
692,000
14
10.7%
90%
778,000
22
17.1%
100%
864,000
127
100.0%

We can also split this analysis by building use (Figure 15). From Figure 15 we can see that
the overall pattern of a minority of high-consuming buildings being responsible for a majority
of electricity consumption is seen across all building uses.
For Factories, 80% of electricity consumption comes from the highest consuming 2% of
buildings. For Education, 80% of consumption comes from the highest consuming 28% of
buildings.

27

Figure 15: The proportion of the building stock (in ascending consumption order)
against the proportion of total electricity consumption, by building use, 2021.

Note: This cumulative distribution plot has the proportion of buildings in the ND-NEED
sample with 2021 electricity consumption on the x-axis (ordered by unweighted electricity
consumption). The y-axis shows the proportion of weighted 2021 electricity consumption
that these buildings are consuming.

28

Gas consumption
Figure 16: The gas consumption of ND-NEED non-domestic buildings in England and
Wales by building use, 2021.

Figure 16 shows that the pattern for gas consumption by building use is similar to that of
electricity consumption. Factories have the highest gas consumption, at 53 TWh in 2021.
This is over four times higher than the gas consumption of any other building use (excluding
the ‘Other’ category). This is even though Factories are not the largest building use
category in terms of building numbers.
As with electricity consumption, the high gas consumption of Factories is in part driven by
their large size and in part by the high gas consuming processes they carry out:
•
Factories account for 14% of non-domestic buildings, but 24% of non-domestic
building floor area (of the buildings with floor area information available).
•
From Energy Consumption in the UK (ECUK)15 we can see that industrial processes
(high and low temperature processes, drying/separation, motors, compressed air)
are responsible for over three-quarters (78%) of gas use in industry, and so a large
part of gas consumption in Factories is likely to be driven by these processes.
Most other building types consumed around 10 TWh of gas in 2021. The exceptions to this
are Arts, Community and Leisure, where the buildings consumed 6 TWh of gas, and
Emergency Services where the buildings consumed 2 TWh of gas.

15 ECUK, End-use data tables, Table U2.

29

Distributional analysis: Gas consumption
As we did for electricity consumption, we can also apply the distributional analysis to gas
consumption from non-domestic buildings. Firstly, we can look at the frequency of different
levels of gas consumption to understand the most common gas consumption level from
non-domestic buildings.

Figure 17: Frequency of different gas consumption values for all non-domestic
buildings, 2021.

Note: This histogram has weighted gas consumption on the x-axis (ascending order),
shown on a log scale (log10). The y-axis shows a frequency count, that is the number of
buildings that have gas consumption values within the corresponding consumption band.
Figure 17 plots gas consumption against the frequency of buildings whose consumption
falls within that band. The tallest bar on the chart represents consumption between 10,000
kWh (104 kWh) and 31,600 kWh (104.5 kWh) per year. This means that Figure 17 shows
that a plurality of buildings consume between 10,000 kWh (104 kWh) and 31,600 kWh (104.5
kWh) per year, and fewer buildings have consumption at either the lower or higher
extremes.
Note, Figure 17 is presented on a log10 scale because the underlying data is very
positively skewed with a long tail of high-consuming sites. This positive skew can also
be seen in the data when you look at the comparison between the weighted median
gas consumption and the weighted mean gas consumption. The weighted median gas
consumption of non-domestic buildings is 25,100 kWh, compared to a weighted mean
gas consumption of 215,300 kWh.

30

We can also present the data in Figure 17 split by building use. Figure 18 shows Shops,
Factories and Offices all have a modal consumption of 10,000 kWh to 31,600 kWh (104
kWh to 104.5 kWh). Hospitality has a higher modal class at 31,600 kWh to 100,000 kWh
(104.5 kWh to 105 kWh), which is consistent with Hospitality having a higher median gas
consumption than Shops, Factories or Offices.

Figure 18: Frequency of different gas consumption values, split by building use,
2021.

Note: This histogram has unweighted gas consumption on the x-axis (ascending order),
shown on a base-10 log scale. The y-axis shows a frequency count, that is the weighted
number of buildings that have electricity consumption 2021 values within the corresponding
consumption band.
To further understand the distribution of gas consumption within the non-domestic building
stock we can also look at the proportion of non-domestic building consumption that comes
from the highest consuming buildings. This will help us to understand how the few
extremely high consuming sites (identified above) impact total gas consumption.

31

Figure 19: Proportion of the building stock (in ascending consumption order) against
the proportion of total gas consumption, 2021.

Note: This cumulative distribution plot has the proportion of buildings in the ND-NEED
sample on the x axis (ordered by unweighted gas consumption). The y-axis shows the
proportion of weighted 2021 gas consumption that these buildings are consuming.
From Figure 19 we can see that the majority of non-domestic building gas consumption
comes from a minority of non-domestic buildings (80% of consumption comes from the 5%
highest consuming buildings). This shows that the small number of high consuming sites
identified in Figure 13 above have a substantial impact on total gas consumption. This is
the same pattern that is seen for electricity consumption, although is slightly more
emphasised for gas. Table 4a shows that 84% of the buildings in the 2021 sample are
responsible for consuming the lowest 10% of gas consumption (accounting for 15 TWh).

32

Table 4a: Cumulative gas consumption and number of buildings by consumption
percentile, 2021
Consumption
Percentile
Cumulative
Consumption
(TWh)
Number of buildings
in the sample
(Cumulative)
Percentage of
building sample (%)
10%
15
300,000
84.2%
20%
30
338,000
94.9%
30%
45
350,000
98.1%
40%
60
354,000
99.4%
50%
75
356,000
99.8%
60%
90
357,000
99.9%
70%
105
357,000
100.0%
80%
120
357,000
100.0%
90%
135
357,000
100.0%
100%
150
357,000
100.0%

Table 4b presents the data in Figure 19 from the opposite angle. By looking at cumulative
consumption by the building percentiles, it shows that 90% of the buildings, in ascending
consumption order, account for only 12 TWh (14%) of the total 150 TWh gas consumption.

33

Table 4b: Cumulative number of buildings and gas consumption by building
percentile, 2021
Building
Percentile
Cumulative
Number
of buildings
Cumulative
Consumption (TWh)
Percentage of
Consumption (%)
10%
36,000
0.1
0.1%
20%
71,000
0.5
0.3%
30%
107,000
1
0.8%
40%
143,000
2
1.4%
50%
178,000
3
2.2%
60%
214,000
5
3.4%
70%
250,000
8
5.1%
80%
285,000
12
8.0%
90%
321,000
21
14.0%
100%
357,000
150
100.0%

We can also split this analysis by building use. From Figure 20, we can see that this pattern
is seen across all building uses. As for electricity this pattern is most convex for Factories,
with 80% of consumption coming from the 1% highest consuming buildings, and least
extreme in the Education sector, with 80% of consumption coming from the 32% highest
consuming buildings.

34

Figure 20: Proportion of the building stock (in ascending consumption order) against
the proportion of total gas consumption, by building use, 2021.
Note: This cumulative distribution plot has the proportion of buildings in the ND-NEED
sample on the x-axis (ordered by unweighted gas consumption). The y-axis shows the
proportion of weighted 2021 gas consumption that these buildings are consuming.

Non-domestic energy intensity by building use
The level of energy consumption in a building use category is in part driven by the number
and size of buildings of that type. To control for this, energy intensity can be used. Energy
intensity is the average amount of energy used in a square metre of a building. Differences
in energy intensity between sectors are therefore not affected by differences in the number
or size of buildings.
Note, there are multiple definitions or denominators that could be used to calculate
intensity including using economic metrics such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or
Gross Value Added (GVA). In ND-NEED, the floor area of a building is used as the
denominator to calculate intensity as it is the most applicable metric for analysing the
energy efficiency of buildings.
The electricity intensity figures presented in ND-NEED are the median electricity intensity,
weighted by the energy weight. Buildings which are missing floor area information are
excluded (see non-domestic energy consumption by building size).

35

Electricity intensity
Figure 21: The median electricity intensity of ND-NEED non-domestic buildings in
England and Wales by building use, 2021

Figure 21 shows that median electricity intensity by building use has a very different pattern
to total electricity consumption. Hospitality is the building use with the highest median
electricity intensity (173 kWh/m2), despite having relatively low total electricity consumption
(8 TWh). This high electricity intensity is likely driven by the fact that hospitality buildings
generally operate in small building premises and often perform activities such as catering
which have high electricity demands16.

By contrast, Factories have a relatively low median electricity intensity (32 kWh/m2) but high
total electricity consumption (39 TWh). The low electricity intensity of Factories suggests
that their high electricity demands driven by the industrial processes they carry out, are
counterbalanced by the large size of these sites.

16 ECUK, End-use data tables, Table U5.

36

Gas intensity
Figure 22: The median gas intensity of ND-NEED non-domestic buildings in England
and Wales by building use, 2021

As for electricity, Figure 22 shows that Hospitality is the building use category with the
highest median gas intensity (316 kWh/m2), consuming over 40% more gas per square
meter than any other building type. This is at least partly due to the high gas demands of
the catering activities that often occur in hospitality buildings. This can be seen in other
publications that split energy consumption by end-use (ECUK17 and BEES18).
The lowest gas intensities are seen in Factories and Warehouses with 82 kWh/m2 and 61
kWh/m2 respectively. A key driver of the low gas intensities of Factories and Warehouses is
likely to be their large building size. Together, Factories and Warehouses occupy 59% of
non-domestic building floor area, despite only accounting for 27% of non-domestic buildings
(see Table 1 and Figure 3 in Non-domestic buildings by building use).

17 ECUK, End-use data tables, Table U5.
18 BEES, Overarching tables, Figure 3.13.

37

Non-domestic energy consumption by building size
Electricity consumption
Figure 23: The electricity consumption of ND-NEED non-domestic buildings in
England and Wales by building size, 2021.

As shown by Figure 23, there is a clear trend that, as building size increases, the share of
total electricity consumption increases; this is particularly true for buildings that are over
1,000m2. This trend is not driven by the number of buildings as there are more buildings in
the smaller floor area categories than there are in the larger ones. Instead, this trend is at
least partly driven by the floor area of buildings in these categories. The total floor area has
a similar pattern to the electricity consumption figures with a greater floor area in the larger
floor area bands.

Note, there is a proportion of non-domestic buildings in ND-NEED that are missing
building size information – 18% of non-domestic buildings in the ND-NEED sample
with electricity consumption in 2021 are missing floor area information. These
buildings are responsible for 47 TWh (37%) of electricity consumption. This means
figures on the electricity consumption of a particular building size should be used with
caution as they are likely to be an underestimate. It also means that there is some
uncertainty associated with the building size trend presented above.

38

Gas consumption
Figure 24: The gas consumption of ND-NEED non-domestic buildings in England and
Wales by building size, 2021.

As with electricity consumption, Figure 24 shows that gas consumption tends to increase as
building size increases. Again, this trend is at least in part driven by the larger total floor
area of the buildings in the larger floor area bands.

It is again important to note the substantial size of the ‘Building size missing’ category
which makes up 69 TWh (46%) of consumption, more than any other building size
category. This consumption comes from the 24% of buildings in the ND-NEED gas
consumption sample that are missing building size information. The size of the
missing category means that that the consumption figures for each building size
category are likely to be underestimates and so should be used with caution. It also
means there is some uncertainty associated with the results above.

39

Non-domestic energy intensity by building size
Electricity intensity
Figure 25: The median electricity intensity of ND-NEED non-domestic buildings in
England and Wales by building size, 2021.

Median electricity intensity (Figure 25) shows the opposite trend to total electricity
consumption, with smaller buildings generally using more electricity per square metre than
larger buildings.

40

Gas intensity

Figure 26: The median gas intensity of ND-NEED non-domestic buildings in England
and Wales by building size, 2021.

Like electricity, median gas intensity shows the opposite trend to gas consumption with
smaller buildings using more gas per square metre (Figure 26). This trend is more
pronounced for gas intensity than it is for electricity intensity.

Non-domestic energy consumption by business size
Non-domestic building energy consumption can also be broken down by business size. In
ND-NEED, business size refers to the number of employees of the business occupying the
building.
As is the case for the building stock, in the energy consumption business size categories
the number of employees refers to the number of employees employed by the business as
a whole, not just the employees that work in the building. This means that small branches of
larger businesses e.g. a corner shop that is part of a national chain, will be in the larger
categories.
A Micro business has fewer than 10 employees, a Small business has 10 - 49 employees, a
Medium business has 50 - 249 employees, a Large business has 250 - 999 employees and
a Very Large business has 1,000 employees or more.
Note, the weighting used to scale up consumption from the ND-NEED sample to the
population does not account for potential differences between the size of businesses

41

in the sample and the size of businesses in the population. This is because of the
lower coverage of business size information in the building stock (only 30% of non-
domestic buildings have business size information). This means there is more
uncertainty around whether the energy consumption figures by business size are
representative of the population, than for the consumption figures by building use or
by floor area.

Electricity consumption
Figure 27: The electricity consumption of ND-NEED non-domestic buildings in
England and Wales by business size, 2021.

Figure 27 shows the contribution of buildings occupied by businesses of different sizes to
non-domestic building electricity consumption. Buildings occupied by Very Large
businesses consume the most electricity (30 TWh), followed by buildings occupied by
Medium sized businesses (12 TWh), with buildings occupied by Micro, Small and Large
businesses consuming the least electricity (around 9 to 11 TWh). This is a different pattern
to that seen in the number of buildings in the non-domestic building stock (see Figure 10,
where Microbusinesses represent 58% of the stock (with available business size
information), and Very Large 15%.

Note, 57 TWh of electricity consumption is missing business size information. This
corresponds to the 491,000 buildings of the 864,000 in the ND-NEED electricity
consumption sample for 2021, where information on the occupying business size is not
available.
In ND-NEED the business size information comes from the IDBR business characteristics
dataset which is matched onto the non-domestic buildings and energy consumption data.
There are two reasons why business size information may not be available:

42

•
The IDBR dataset may not contain business size information for a building.
•
The IDBR dataset may contain business size information, but this cannot be
successfully matched to the corresponding building.
Because of the substantial size of the ‘Business size missing’ consumption category, the
consumption figures for other categories e.g. Micro, Small etc. should be used with caution
as they are likely to be underestimates (as some of the consumption in the ‘Business size
missing’ category should be in those categories). It also means that there is substantial
uncertainty around the pattern of results.
Gas consumption
Figure 28: The gas consumption of ND-NEED non-domestic buildings in England and
Wales by business size, 2021.

Figure 28 shows that gas consumption by business size follows a similar pattern to
electricity consumption. Buildings occupied by Very Large sized businesses consume most
gas (32 TWh), followed by Medium-sized businesses (19 TWh), Large (16 TWh) and Micro
and Small businesses (12 and 10 TWh, respectively).

It is again important to note the substantial consumption of 62 TWh from the ‘Business size
missing’ category. This is because 186,000 of the 357,000 buildings in the ND-NEED gas
consumption sample for 2021 are missing business size information. Because of this, the
consumption figures for each business size category are likely to be underestimates (as
some consumption from buildings that are missing business size information is likely to fall
into each category), and there is substantial uncertainty around the pattern of results seen.

43

Non-domestic energy intensity by business size
Electricity intensity
Figure 29: The median electricity intensity of ND-NEED non-domestic buildings in
England and Wales by business size, 2021.

From Figure 29 we can see that electricity intensity increases with the size of the business.
It is greatest among Very Large businesses (123 kWh/m2), with small businesses having
the lowest intensity (73 kWh/m2).

As with the electricity consumption figures it is important to note the substantial size of the
business size missing category – 52% of buildings in the ND-NEED sample that have floor
area information are missing business size information. This makes it difficult to draw any
firm conclusions from the results as they are associated with a high degree of uncertainty.

44

Gas intensity
Figure 30: The median gas intensity of ND-NEED non-domestic buildings in England
and Wales by business size, 2021.

Figure 30 shows that gas intensity by business size is considerably greatest among Micro
businesses (183 kWh/m2). Unlike electricity intensity, gas intensity generally decreases with
the size of the business.

Again, it is important to note the substantial size of the business size missing category –
almost half (45%) of buildings in the ND-NEED sample that have both gas consumption and
floor area information are missing business size information. This makes it difficult to draw
any firm conclusions from the results.
How has energy consumption/intensity in non-domestic
buildings changed over time (2012 – 2021)?
ND-NEED can also provide information on the electricity and gas consumption/intensity
over time, which can be disaggregated by building use.
Note: the electricity consumption year is a calendar year (Jan – Dec), the gas
consumption year runs from mid-May to mid-May.

In addition to overall consumption, another way to investigate how non-domestic building
energy use has changed over time is to the look at median consumption and median

45

intensity. Median consumption will be less affected by consumption from a few high
consuming buildings than the overall consumption time series.

Note, the floor area information in ND-NEED is only available for a single point in time
(end of March 2023). This means that any changes in the energy intensity time series
are being driven by changes in consumption alone, as the impact of any changes in
floor area will not be captured.

In this update we have presented several energy consumption/intensity time series:
1. Electricity and gas consumption over time (2012 – 2021)
2. Median electricity and gas consumption over time (2012 – 2021)
3. Median electricity and gas intensity over time (2012 – 2021)

Note, because the ND-NEED statistics are created by scaling up the results from a
sample of buildings to the population level (rather than from the whole population
directly) there is some degree of uncertainty surrounding all ND-NEED estimates.
Because of this uncertainty small changes in the ND-NEED consumption figures over
time could just be noise rather than showing a true change.

Electricity consumption
Figure 31: Electricity consumption in ND-NEED non-domestic buildings in England
and Wales (2012-2021).

46

Figure 31 shows that, according to ND-NEED, there has been an overall downward trend in
the electricity consumption of non-domestic buildings in England and Wales between 2012
and 2021. There was a noticeable reduction (10% decrease on 2019) in 2020 consumption
due to the covid-19 pandemic and consequent trading restrictions. Figure 31 also shows
some evidence of the covid bounce back, where consumption has increased again in 2021
(6% more than in 2020), although not to the same pre-pandemic level as in 2019. This is
broadly consistent with the trend seen in other publications such as the Subnational
electricity consumption statistics and DUKES19.

Unlike other publications, ND-NEED can also split this time series by building use. All
building uses show a similar pattern to overall consumption, with consumption decreasing
slightly between 2012 and 2019. This is before dropping further during the pandemic in
2020 across all sectors besides the “Other” sector (which increased by 12%, largely due to
increased use by electricity hereditaments, for example, power station premises - further
information in Annex C of the Methodology note). Consumption has risen across all sectors
in 2021 including the “Other” sector. Hospitality (28%) and Arts, Community and Leasure
(17%) have seen large increases, which reflects a return to similar levels to 2019 after
falling 33% and 29% respectively in 2020.

Looking at the small rise (3%) in Office electricity consumption at a more granular level, this
is being driven mainly by computer data centres rather than typical offices. Despite making
up less than 1% of Office buildings that consume electricity in 2021, computer centres are
influential because they make up 25% of the electricity consumption from Offices.

19 Dukes, Table 5.2, Sectors: Industry, Commercial, Public administration.

47

Figure 32: Median electricity consumption in ND-NEED non-domestic buildings in
England and Wales, 2012-2021.

Similar to overall consumption, Figure 32 shows how the trend in the median electricity
consumption has been impacted by the COVID-19 restrictions.

Before the pandemic, median electricity consumption in non-domestic buildings steadily
declined between 2012 and 2019, by 18% overall. Then a similar overall decrease of 21%
is seen in one year between 2019 and 2020, before increasing again by 20% in 2021.
Median consumption therefore shows a greater bounce back from 2020 level, perhaps due
to the lesser influence from few higher consumption buildings.

In addition to the Arts, Community and Leisure and Hospitality which showed the biggest
increase in 2021 compared to 2020 for overall consumption, Shops also showed notable
increases in median consumption (37%).

The overall median electricity consumption in non-domestic buildings in ND-NEED in 2021
(7,200 kWh) is broadly in line with what is seen in the Subnational electricity data (6,600
kWh a year). This increase in median consumption is also observed in the Subnational
electricity consumption data.

Figure 33 shows that electricity intensity has gradually fallen between 2012 and 2019,
decreasing by 21% in this period. Similar to the pattern seen in the overall electricity
consumption, intensity fell in 2019 before increasing again in 2021. There was an increase
seen consistently across sectors, with Arts, Community and Leisure, Hospitality, and Shops
showing the greatest increases (53%, 51% and 39% respectively).

48

Figure 33: Median electricity intensity in ND-NEED non-domestic buildings in
England and Wales, 2012-2021.

49

Gas consumption20
Figure 34: Gas consumption in ND-NEED non-domestic buildings in England and
Wales, 2012-2021.

Note, the gas consumption figures in ND-NEED are temperature adjusted so any
temperature differences between years will not influence the ND-NEED gas consumption
trend.

Figure 34 shows that, according to ND-NEED, gas consumption in non-domestic buildings
decreased slowly between 2012 and 2021, varying between 156 TWh and 150 TWh,
respectively (a 4% fall). The impact of the pandemic on gas consumption is not as evident
as for electricity, where overall gas consumption fell by just 1% in 2021 compared to 2020.
This is likely due to the reporting period for gas being mid-May to mid-May, rather than the
calendar year for electricity. Therefore, gas data for 2019 includes records in the first four
months of 2020, which will be impacted by the first lockdown period.
There is, however, more variation within certain sectors. Consumption in Hospitality and the
Arts, Communities and Leisure sector grew by 24% and 16% respectively in 2021, which is
similar to the rise seen for electricity for these sectors. As sectors particularly affected by
the pandemic restrictions, this follows a fall of 16% and 12% in 2020. Offices saw a 3%

20 ND-NEED gas consumption years are not calendar years but run from mid-May to mid-May. For example,
data from 2021 is data from mid-May 2021 – mid-May 2022. A full historical breakdown of the time periods
used can be found in the Subnational consumption summary report on page 16. For more information see the
methodology note of the Subnational gas consumption statistics which provide the gas consumption figures in
ND-NEED.

50

decrease in 2021 compared to 2020, as did Factories and Shops, decreasing by 2% and
1% respectively.
The overall trend is consistent with the Sub-national consumption statistics, which also
showed a 1% fall in 2021.

Median gas consumption (Figure 35) shows a similar trend to electricity consumption with
evidence of a slight decrease in median gas consumption in 2019 and 2020 (8% and 4%,
respectively) before increasing again by 2% in 2021. This trend is also seen in the
Subnational gas consumption data. The main drivers of this trend are the Arts, Community
and Leisure and Hospitality sectors, experiencing an increase of 18% and 17% respectively
in 2021. In comparison to the rest of building uses (excluding the “Other” category), whose
median gas consumption fell between 2020 and 2021. Therefore, the trends are not as
consistent across all sectors for gas as for electricity.

Note, the median gas consumption in non-domestic buildings in ND-NEED (around
27,000 kWh) is much lower than is seen in the Subnational gas consumption data
(around 147,000 kWh). This is because the Subnational data uses a consumption
threshold of 73,200 kWh to identify non-domestic buildings which means some low
consuming non-domestic buildings are not included and are instead classified as
domestic. Consumption from these buildings is captured in ND-NEED which leads to
the lower median consumption values.

Figure 35: Median gas consumption in ND-NEED non-domestic buildings in England
and Wales, 2012-2021.

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Gas intensity (Figure 36) shows a similar pattern as electricity intensity, showing a gradual
decrease over time, falling by 12% across the 2012 to 2020 period, though no change in
2021. Despite this, again, the variance in high across sectors; with Hospitality and Arts,
Community and Leisure experiencing the largest upturns (23% and 17% respectively)
compared to decreases or no change across all other sectors. Emergency services showed
the most prominent decrease in median gas intensity in 2021, falling by 17%.

Figure 36: Median gas intensity in ND-NEED non-domestic buildings in England and
Wales, 2012-2021.

Investigating consumption from buildings with low-consuming
non-domestic meters

ND-NEED can also provide information on the number of non-domestic buildings that have
‘domestic-like’ or low consuming electricity or gas meters. This can provide an indication of
the proportion of non-domestic buildings that share similar consumption characteristics as
domestic buildings, and how much they contribute to overall non-domestic consumption.
Electricity consumption
There are two key reasons why it is important to understand the number of non-domestic
buildings that have ‘domestic-like’ electricity meters:
1. In ND-NEED the non-domestic electricity meter population is defined as all meters
that are in ‘non-domestic’ profile classes (0, 3 – 8), and any meters in a ‘domestic-
like’ profile class (1,2), that can be matched to a non-domestic building address via

52

an address-matching algorithm. The ND-NEED address matching algorithm is
estimated to have a match rate of around 51% which means we know that we are
missing some ‘domestic-like’ meters from the ND-NEED population. Understanding
how many non-domestic buildings have ‘domestic-like’ meters will help us to
understand how many of these meters and what level of electricity consumption is
currently being missed in ND-NEED.
2. The profile class of an electricity meter is used by other electricity consumption
publications such as the Subnational electricity consumption publication to identify
non-domestic meters and so to estimate non-domestic building consumption.
Understanding how many non-domestic buildings have ‘domestic-like’ meters,
therefore, informs how much non-domestic consumption is being recorded as
domestic consumption in these publications.
Of the 864,000 non-domestic buildings that have been matched to their corresponding
electricity meter in the ND-NEED sample in 2021, 108,000 (13%) have ‘domestic-like’
meters (meters in profile classes 1 or 2). These may have previously been a domestic
property which have now been converted to non-domestic usage. These buildings with
‘domestic-like’ meters are responsible for 1 TWh of electricity consumption, 1% of electricity
consumption from buildings with profile class information.
This shows that while these ‘domestic-like’ meters are relatively common in the non-
domestic building stock, they make very little contribution to overall electricity consumption.
This means that although the ND-NEED meter population is likely missing a substantial
number of these ‘domestic-like’ electricity meters, this has little impact on the overall
electricity consumption reported. This will also be the case for other electricity consumption
publications that use profile class to define meters as ‘domestic’ or ‘non-domestic’.
Gas consumption
As gas meters do not have profile classes or similar which could indicate whether a
meter is located in a domestic or a non-domestic building, the metered consumption
level is used instead.

DESNZ uses the gas industry standard “Annual Quantity” (AQ) cut-off point of 73.2
MWh to determine whether a gas meter is classified as domestic or non-domestic.
Meters that consume <= 73.2 MWh are classified as domestic and meters that
consume >73.2 MWh are classified as non-domestic.

In ND-NEED this classification is refined by also matched low-consuming sites to non-
domestic buildings.

For gas consumption there are three key reasons why it is important to understand the
number of gas meters that are low-consuming/’domestic-like’:
1. In ND-NEED the non-domestic gas meter population is defined as all meters that
consume >73.2 MWh and any meters that consume <= 73.2 MWh that can be

53

matched to a non-domestic building address via an address-matching algorithm. The
ND-NEED address matching algorithm is estimated to have a match rate of around
51% which means we know that we are missing some ‘low-consuming’ meters from
the ND-NEED population. Understanding how many non-domestic buildings have
these ‘low consuming’ meters will help us to understand how many of these meters
and what level of gas consumption is currently being missed in ND-NEED.
2. The consumption level of a gas meter is used by other gas consumption publications
such as the Subnational gas consumption publication to identify non-domestic
meters and so to estimate non-domestic building consumption. Understanding how
many non-domestic buildings have these ‘low-consuming’ meters therefore informs
how much non-domestic consumption is being recorded as domestic consumption in
these publications.
3. Not all non-domestic buildings will have a gas meter – they may be in an area where
no gas connection is available, or they may be in an area where a gas connection is
available but choose not to be connected. Understanding how many buildings with
gas meters are currently being missed in ND-NEED will help us to estimate the
number of non-domestic buildings with no gas connection. This is important as there
are differences in decarbonisation policy for buildings that use gas and those that do
not.

In the ND-NEED sample there are 357,000 non-domestic buildings that have been matched
to their corresponding gas meter(s) in 2021. Of these 357,000 buildings, 280,000 buildings
consumed <=73.2 MWh of gas in 2021. That is 78% of all buildings with gas consumption
information. These buildings are responsible for 11 TWh of gas consumption, which is
around 7% of gas consumption from the whole non-domestic building stock.
This shows that ‘low-consuming’ gas meters are also common in the non-domestic building
stock and have a non-negligible impact on the total gas consumption level. This means that
the ND-NEED meter population is potentially missing a substantial number of gas meters
and is slightly underestimating the total gas consumption from non-domestic buildings. This
will be even more true for other publications which just use the 73.2 MWh cut-off to identify
non-domestic consumption as they don’t use address matching to identify any lower
consuming sites.

Note, typical domestic gas consumption is much lower than 73.2 MWh. Ofgem
estimates that the medium domestic gas consumption is 12 MWh and high domestic
gas consumption is 17 MWh.

If 17 MWh a year is used as the cut-off for non-domestic consumption, then 147,000
buildings (41% of buildings in the ND-NEED gas sample) have ‘domestic-like’ gas
consumption in 2021 (<17 MWh). These buildings are responsible for 2 TWh of
consumption.
If 12 MWh a year is used as the cut-off for non-domestic consumption, then 108,000
buildings (30% of buildings in the ND-NEED gas sample) have ‘domestic-like’ gas

54

consumption in 2021 (<12 MWh). These buildings are responsible for 1 TWh of
consumption.
Overlap between buildings with ‘domestic-like’ electricity meters and ‘domestic-like’ gas
meters
Another area we can investigate with the ND-NEED data is the extent to which the buildings
with ‘domestic-like’ electricity and gas meters overlap. For this analysis a gas meter will be
considered ‘domestic-like’ if it consumed less than Ofgem’s ‘high domestic consumption’
level of 17 MWh in 2021.
There are 108,000 non-domestic buildings with ‘domestic-like’ electricity meters and
147,000 non-domestic buildings with ‘domestic-like’ gas consumption in the ND-NEED
sample.
As Figure 37 shows of the 147,000 non-domestic buildings with ‘domestic-like’ gas
consumption, 34,000 also have ‘domestic-like’ electricity meters. That means that 24% of
the buildings with ‘domestic-like’ gas consumption also have ‘domestic-like’ electricity
meters.
Of the 108,000 non-domestic buildings with ‘domestic-like’ electricity meters, 52,000 also
consumed gas in 2021. As Figure 37 shows, of these 52,000 buildings, 34,000 have
‘domestic-like’ gas consumption. That means that 66% of the gas consuming buildings with
‘domestic-like’ electricity meters also have ‘domestic-like’ gas consumption.
Figure 37: Overlap between buildings with ‘domestic-like’ electricity meters and
‘domestic-like’ gas consumption meters.

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Comparing the results in ND-NEED to comparable figures
from other publications
Consumption by building use
The electricity/gas consumption of non-domestic buildings broken down by building use is
available in other publications as well as in ND-NEED. Figures 37 and 38 compare the total
electricity and gas consumption figures for non-domestic buildings from three different
sources (ND-NEED, BEES21 and ECUK22).
In general, all three publications have similar electricity consumption figures by building
use. The figures in ECUK are mostly higher than the figures in ND-NEED and BEES. This
is consistent with the fact that ECUK covers the whole of the UK, whereas the ND-NEED
and BEES just cover England and Wales. Methodological differences also account for
some of this difference.
The notable exception to this is Factories where consumption in BEES is much lower than
in ND-NEED (11 TWh in BEES compared to 42 TWh in ND-NEED). Factory consumption
figures are not available for ECUK. This difference can be explained by a difference in the
BEES and ND-NEED methodologies. The BEES consumption figure refers to all electricity
consumed by the building whereas the ND-NEED figures, as they are based on meter point
data, refer to all energy consumed by the building and any activity inside the building. In the
case of Factories, this means that industrial processes are not included in the BEES
consumption figures, but they are included in ND-NEED.
The gas consumption figures show a similar pattern to the electricity consumption figures.
For all sectors except Factories the consumption figures are relatively consistent across all
three publications. The ND-NEED consumption figure for Factories is much higher than the
BEES consumption figure for the reason stated above.

21 BEES, Overarching report tables, Figure 3.1
22 ECUK, End uses data tables, Table U5

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Figure 38: Non-domestic building electricity consumption from this version of ND-
NEED for 2016, BEES for 2014-1523, and ECUK for 201624

Figure 39: Non-domestic building gas consumption from this version of ND-NEED for
2016, BEES for 2014-1525, and ECUK26 for 2016

23 BEES, Overarching report tables, Figure 3.1. BEES does not have figures for gas so non-electric consumption
is used.
24 ECUK, End uses data tables, Table U5.
25 BEES, Overarching report tables, Figure 3.1. BEES does not have figures for gas so non-electric consumption
is used.
26 ECUK, End uses data tables, Table U5.

57

Consumption over time
The total electricity/gas consumption from non-domestic buildings over time is also
available from other publications. Figures 40 and 41 compare the normalised change in
non-domestic electricity and gas consumption over time from three different sources (ND-
NEED, DUKES and Subnational).
The total non-domestic building consumption from these sources varies due to
methodological and definitional differences. Because of this normalised electricity/gas
consumption is presented so the trends over time can be easily compared.
Note for gas consumption both the subnational and ND-NEED gas year runs from
mid-May – mid-May, while the DUKES gas year is the calendar year Jan – Dec. This
may cause differences in the trends seen in these publications.

All three data sources show that non-domestic building electricity/gas consumption has
remained broadly stable between 2012 and 2019, with some evidence of a gradual
decrease for electricity consumption in that period. However, 2020, according to all three
datasets, saw a significant decrease in electricity consumption, before increasing again in
2021. The trend across the three sources is not as consistent for gas, likely due to the
different reporting periods (ND-NEED and subnational figures are mid-May to mid-May)
where some of the pandemic reductions are not exclusively seen in the 2020 subnational
figure.

58

Figure 40: Non-domestic building normalised electricity consumption 2021 from ND-
NEED, Subnational27 and DUKES28.

Figure 41: Non-domestic building normalised gas consumption 2021 from ND-NEED,
Subnational29 and DUKES30.

27 Subnational electricity consumption data.
28 DUKES electricity consumption. Industry, commercial and public administration used as a proxy for
nondomestic buildings. Electricity from the public distribution system.
29 Subnational gas consumption data.
30 DUKES gas consumption. Industry, commercial, public administration and misc. used as a proxy for non-
domestic buildings. Total natural gas.

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Main limitations of ND-NEED
The ND-NEED methodology is detailed in the accompanying Methodology note. However,
it should be noted that there are several aspects of ND-NEED’s methodology which
currently limit the insights that it can provide. Work is continually being undertaken to try to
address these.
Address matching
•
Incorrect matches between the non-domestic buildings data and the energy
consumption data (see Methodology Annex A).
o Due to difficulties with the address matching process used to match the
energy consumption data to AddressBase, some matches will not be
correct. It is estimated that around 5% of address matches are incorrect.
o If an energy meter data has been matched with the wrong address in
AddressBase it will then match to the wrong address in the ND-NEED
building stock. The consumption of that building with therefore be assigned
to the wrong building and business characteristics information, and
weighted accordingly, causing distortions in the data.
•
Around 51% match rate between the non-domestic buildings data and the energy
consumption data (see Methodology Annex A).
o Only 51% of non-domestic buildings in the ND-NEED building stock are
matched to electricity consumption data
o Only 20% are matched to gas consumption data (including non-buildings)
– however, this is expected to be lower than for electricity since not all
buildings use gas
•
The address matching algorithm uses addresses from January 2022. This means
that any old addresses that no longer exist in AddressBase (because the building
no longer exists or because the buildings address has changed e.g. if a new
business is occupying the building) will not be matched.
Weighting
• Because we cannot match all non-domestic buildings data with their energy
consumption data, weighting is needed to ensure the ND-NEED consumption figures
are representative of the population. There are several issues with this:
o Firstly, there is currently no information in ND-NEED about business size at
the population level. Business size is therefore not accounted for in the
weighting process.
o Secondly, although floor area is a factor in the weighting process, the
relatively high rates of missing floor area information in ND-NEED reduces the
efficacy of the floor area weighting.

• Applying energy weights to energy intensity figures:
o Energy intensity is influenced by both the energy consumption and the floor
area of a building, whereas the energy weight currently applied to energy

60

intensity figures is just influenced by a building’s energy consumption. This
means that differences in floor area between the buildings in the sample and
the population are not accounted for.

• Manual elements of the weighting process:
o The current ND-NEED weighting processes requires subjective decisions to
be made about when to merge adjacent cells when there are a low number of
buildings/meters in a particular cell and which cell to merge these ‘low value’
cells with. This means that two people running the weighing process would
calculate slightly different weights, and as a consequence slightly different
consumption value. This adds to the uncertainty surrounding all ND-NEED
consumption estimates.
Consumption: time-series
There are several reasons why consumption in the earlier years in the time series maybe
being underestimated in ND-NEED:

• The building stock figures used in ND-NEED, based on position of the 2017 NDR at
March 2023, do not include sites that have closed (or no longer attract business
rates, for example, if converted to domestic use). Because of this, any buildings that
do not exist in March 2023 will not be included in the ND-NEED stock and so cannot
be matched to energy consumption data.

• The energy consumption data used in this version of ND-NEED only includes meters
which are active in 2021. Because of this, any energy consumption from meters that
have now been deenergised e.g. because the building has been destroyed, is not
captured.

• The weighting process:
o The weighting process in ND-NEED is currently unable to account sufficiently
for the underestimation of consumption in earlier years. This makes it difficult
to create a robust time series from the ND-NEED. Energy consumption in
earlier years is likely to be underestimated, as energy consumed by
buildings/meters that no longer exist would not be captured.
o The manual element of the weighting process (see above) introduces
uncertainty into the consumption figures which can also have a small impact
on the time series trend presented. This means that it is not possible to
determine whether small changes in the time series trend are real changes in
consumption or caused by noise in the data.
Missing data
• Many buildings in ND-NEED are missing information on business/building size.
o The main consequences of the high level of missing data in ND-NEED is that
the consumption value associated with a particular business or building size

61

will likely be an underestimate, as some consumption from buildings that are
missing business/building size information will likely fall into that category.

Mixed building use
• The data received from the VOA (NDR/SMV) is at the hereditament level and must
be aggregated to the building level for use in ND-NEED. Where a building contains
multiple hereditaments of different building uses the building use of the hereditament
with the largest floor area is assigned to the building. However, it is possible that the
building use of the hereditament with the largest floor area does not best represent
the building use of the building as a whole. Improving the building use classification
for building uses with multiple hereditaments would improve the accuracy of ND-
NEED’s energy consumption and energy intensity figures by building use.
Business size
• The business size information in ND-NEED is the size of the business that occupies
the building, not the number of employees that work in the building. Because of this
a small branch of a national store will be a large business in ND-NEED, even if there
are only a few employees occupying the building.

• Additionally, similar to mixed building use, there are often multiple businesses
occupying – or registered to – a building, or even a premises. The method takes the
business with the best match rating to represent that building, which may not best
represent the building as a whole.
Scope
• The definition of a non-domestic building in ND-NEED is an area to review,
particularly with regards to excluded buildings, such as prisons; and included
buildings, such as those within the “Other” category – particularly electricity
hereditaments (which include some generating stations that may consume electricity
for non-building purposes).

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Accompanying tables
The following tables are available on the department’s statistics website:

1
Number and total floor area of ND-NEED non-domestic buildings by
building use, end of March 2023. (updated).
2
Number and total floor area of ND-NEED non-domestic buildings by
floor area bands, end of March 2023. (updated).
3
Number of ND-NEED non-domestic buildings by year of construction,
end of March 2023. (updated). Number of ND-NEED non-domestic
buildings by building use and year of construction, end of March 2023
(New for ND-NEED 2023).
4
Number of ND-NEED non-domestic buildings by business size, end of
March 2023. (updated).
5
ND-NEED non-domestic building number and floor area by building
use and building size, end of March 2023. (updated).
6
ND-NEED non-domestic building number and floor area by building
use and business size, end of March 2023. (updated).
7
ND-NEED non-domestic building number and floor area by building
size and business size, end of March 2023. (updated).
8
ND-NEED non-domestic building electricity and gas consumption by
building use, 2012-2021. (updated).
9
ND-NEED non-domestic building median electricity and gas intensity
by building use, 2012 - 2021. (updated).
10
ND-NEED non-domestic building electricity and gas consumption by
building size, 2021. (updated).
11
ND-NEED non-domestic building median electricity and gas intensity
by building size, 2021. (updated).
12
ND-NEED non-domestic building electricity and gas consumption by
business size, 2021 (updated).
13
ND-NEED non-domestic building median electricity and gas intensity
by business size, 2021. (updated).
14
ND-NEED non-domestic building median electricity and gas
consumption by building use, 2012 - 2021. (updated).
15
Electric meter profile classes of buildings in the ND-NEED sample,
2021. (updated).
16
Gas meter consumption of buildings in the ND-NEED sample, 2021.
(updated).
17
ND-NEED non-domestic building electricity and gas consumption by
building use and building size, 2018-2021. (updated).
18
ND-NEED non-domestic building electricity and gas consumption by
building use and business size, 2018-2021. (updated).
19
ND-NEED non-domestic building electricity and gas consumption by
business size and building size, 2019-2021. (updated).
20
Added and removed buildings, March 2022 – March 2023 (updated).

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Revisions policy
The DESNZ statistical revisions policy sets out the revisions policy for these statistics,
which has been developed in accordance with the UK Statistics Authority Code of Practice
for Statistics.
User engagement
Users are encouraged to provide comments and feedback on how these statistics are used
and how well they meet user needs. Comments on any issues relating to this statistical
release are welcomed and should be sent to: xxx@xxx.xx.
The DESNZ statement on statistical public engagement and data standards sets out the
department’s commitments on public engagement and data standards as outlined by the
Code of Practice for Statistics.
Contact
•
Responsible statistician: James Hemingway
•
Email: xxx@xxx.xx
•
Media enquiries: xx-xxxx-xxxx
•
Statistical enquiries: xx-xxxx-xxxx