Most businesses have never compared their consumption to a benchmark
The question "are we paying a fair rate?" gets asked at most businesses. The question "are we consuming at a reasonable level for our building type?" gets asked far less often. Both matter. An efficient building on a poor contract pays too much. An inefficient building on a competitive contract also pays too much, just for a different reason.
The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) publishes annual energy benchmarking data for Singapore commercial buildings, measured in Energy Use Intensity (EUI), kilowatt-hours consumed per square metre of gross floor area per year. This is the standard metric for comparing energy performance across buildings of the same type. Here is what that data tells you about what is normal, what is good, and what signals a problem.
Why Singapore electricity is structurally expensive
Before looking at benchmarks, it is worth understanding why the numbers are what they are. Singapore generates approximately 95 percent of its electricity from imported liquefied natural gas. There is no domestic energy source to buffer costs. This makes Singapore directly exposed to global LNG price movements, when global gas prices rise, Singapore electricity tariffs rise. The Q2 2026 regulated tariff of 27.27 cents per kWh (before GST) reflects this reality.
Singapore also operates in a tropical climate. Air conditioning and mechanical ventilation accounts for approximately 43 percent of total office building electricity consumption, more than any other single load category. This structural cooling load is one reason Singapore EUI figures are higher than those for equivalent buildings in temperate climates, even when those buildings are less efficient in every other respect.
Energy Use Intensity: sector benchmarks from BCA data
The following figures are drawn from the BCA Building Energy Benchmarking Report and NUS IREUS research (2023 to 2025 data):
Office buildings
- Business park offices (typically newer, with better envelope and systems): median EUI of 145 kWh/sqm/year
- Standard CBD and commercial offices: median EUI of 160 to 164 kWh/sqm/year
- Office buildings with laboratories: median EUI around 309 kWh/sqm/year (lab equipment roughly doubles consumption)
Retail
- Strata shopping centres (smaller, less intensive): median EUI of 284 kWh/sqm/year
- Standard shopping centres: median EUI of 447 kWh/sqm/year
- Malls with significant food and beverage, supermarkets, or cinema: median EUI of 485 kWh/sqm/year
- MRT-linked malls (extended hours, high footfall): median EUI of 511 kWh/sqm/year
Hotels
- 4-star hotels: median EUI of 238 kWh/sqm/year
- 5-star hotels: median EUI of 256 kWh/sqm/year
- Worst 25 percent of hotels: EUI above 344 kWh/sqm/year
Buildings connected to district cooling networks (common in Marina Bay and some business parks) show lower EUI figures because chilled water consumption is not captured in their electricity data. If your building uses district cooling, your electricity EUI will look lower than peers, but your total energy cost includes the chilled water charge. Always benchmark on total energy cost, not electricity alone.
What this means in dollars per square metre
Converting EUI to cost at a rate of approximately 28 cents per kWh (a reasonable mid-range figure for a competitively tendered retail contract in 2026):
- Office at 160 kWh/sqm/year: approximately S$44.80 per sqm per year
- Standard retail mall at 447 kWh/sqm/year: approximately S$125 per sqm per year
- 4-star hotel at 238 kWh/sqm/year: approximately S$66.64 per sqm per year
These figures give facilities managers and CFOs a meaningful basis for comparing their own buildings against sector norms, and for quantifying the cost of being above the median.
How Singapore compares regionally
Singapore and Hong Kong are broadly comparable in electricity cost terms in USD, both in the range of 18 to 21 US cents per kWh for commercial consumers. Malaysia is materially cheaper at approximately 6 to 7 US cents per kWh for commercial accounts, reflecting domestic gas production and government subsidies. Thailand sits around 11 to 12 US cents per kWh.
This gap is a structural competitive disadvantage for Singapore-based manufacturing and logistics businesses competing regionally. It is also one of the strongest arguments for ensuring that every available cent of savings from the Open Electricity Market is actually captured, the gap between a passive, unreviewed electricity arrangement and a competitively tendered one is material in a market where the input cost is already a premium.
Benchmarks for tenants and SMEs without GFA data
The BCA EUI metric assumes you know your building's gross floor area. For tenants who do not track this, two alternative benchmarks are useful:
- Electricity per employee: total kWh consumed divided by headcount. Useful for office tenants comparing across locations or over time.
- Electricity as a percentage of revenue: total electricity spend divided by annual turnover. Allows comparison across businesses of different sizes and helps frame the procurement opportunity in financial terms that CFOs understand.
The Mandatory Energy Improvement regime: a compliance risk for laggards
The Building Control Act was amended in September 2024 to introduce the Mandatory Energy Improvement (MEI) regime. Buildings with a gross floor area of 5,000 square metres or more that are consistently ranked in the worst 25 percent of EUI within their sector category face mandatory energy audits and must implement an Energy Efficiency Improvement Plan.
For facilities managers and building owners, this is a material compliance obligation. It means that being in the bottom quartile is no longer just a cost issue: it is a regulatory one. Identifying where your building sits relative to sector benchmarks before EMA does is straightforward; the BCA publishes the thresholds annually.
What to do if you are above the benchmark
If your building's EUI is above the sector median, the first step is to understand why. In most cases, the biggest single lever is the cooling system: chiller plant efficiency, setpoint management, and ventilation system performance typically account for the largest proportion of above-benchmark consumption. Air handling unit retrofits and variable speed drive upgrades on pump and fan systems are the most common interventions.
The second step is to ensure your electricity rate reflects the value of your account. A building consuming above the sector median is, by definition, a large electricity buyer. That consumption should be working in your favour in a competitive tender. If you have not re-tendered your electricity contract in the last 18 months, that is likely the highest-yield action available.
A free bill audit from Gigawatt will tell you where your current rate sits relative to what the market currently offers, and whether there are line items in your bill worth challenging.