This release combines the CSO Non-Domestic Building Energy Ratings (NDBER) and Metered Electricity Consumption statistical releases. See Energy Statistics for more detailed information on these releases.
The main purpose of this release is to examine how electricity consumption varies by type of building use and by energy rating. Only buildings that used electricity as their main space heating fuel in their BER audit have been included in the analysis.
Total floor area is taken into account by publishing an indicator on mean kilowatt hours per square metre.
The CSO obtained access to the microdata for statistical purposes only under the Statistics Act, 1993.
The BER microdata were obtained from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. A Building Energy Rating is an indication of the energy performance of a buildling (represented in units of kWh/m2/year). The BER certificate indicates the annual primary energy usage associated with the provision of space heating, water heating, ventilation, lighting, and associated pumps and fans.
The consumption data were received from the Electricity Supply Board (ESB Networks). It includes all connections to the mains electricity network. The data are expressed in kilowatt hours. A kilowatt hour is a unit of energy equivalent to one kilowatt of power sustained over an hour.
The electricity Meter Point Reference Number (MPRN) was used as the matching variable between the building energy ratings and electricity consumption files. The MPRN is collected as part of the building energy ratings audit process. The building energy ratings file contained audits that were undertaken in 2009 to 2022.
The analysis was restricted to BER audits using electricity as their main space heating fuel and only buildings that were being used as Community or Day Centres, Offices, Primary Health Care, Restaurants and Public Houses, and Retail were included.
Buildings with less than 25 or more than 25,000 square metres of total floor area were excluded. Buildings using less than 10 or more than 500 kWh per square metre in a year were excluded. In some cases more than one energy audit was associated with the same MPRN e.g. the canteen and the offices in a building may have been given separate audits but both were connected to the same MPRN. In such cases the CSO kept the most recent energy audit. If more than one audit for an MPRN was published on the same date then the audit with the highest floor area was kept. This means that the electricity meter consumption covers both audits but the energy rating and floor area of only one of the audits was retained. Hence in such cases the electricity consumption per square metre figures are higher than they would be if both areas had separate meters.
There were 17,451 BER records matched compared with 41,735 audits with electricity space heating in the Q4 2022 Non-Domestic Building Energy Ratings release. The difference reflects the main space heating fuel, floor area, type of premises, and electricity consumption conditions.
The figures are subject to revision.
The median can be regarded as typical usage as it is not influenced by outliers in the same way that the mean or average is.
This release will be published on an annual basis.
