Records show continued drop in electricity consumption

16 October 2026

Electricity consumption in non-domestic buildings fell by almost 2% in 2024, despite enormous growth in the number of data centres. This continues an annual trend in reductions in electricity usage in such buildings, stretching back at least to 2012.

The only break in this relentlessly downward demand figure was in the year 2021, following emergence from COVID19 shutdowns. Even so, by 2024 electricity consumption levels were 5% below the pre-pandemic levels recorded in 2019.

The largest decline was in electricity consumption in offices, which has fallen by 21% since 2012. Although data centre electricity did increase by 41% between 2020 and 2024, it was still only responsible for 2% of overall usage in 2024.

These official figures were released by the government on 30th September, as part of its ND-NEED database. The non-domestic base covers 1,767,000 buildings. That number grew overall by 1% last year, with hospitality – an ostensibly endangered sector – surprisingly grew by 3%.

The average building size is as low as 635 sq. metres. This explains why 93% of non-residential buildings are excluded from the list of leased or rented buildings set to be upgraded to B energy performance certificate standard during this decade. To qualify, buildings must be over 1,000 sq. metres.

Non-residential buildings are responsible for approaching one-third of total energy usage in buildings. Last year, gas consumption in non-domestic buildings also fell, but only by 1%.