The commercial component of the energy efficiency improvement programme will target entities such as hotels, office buildings, banks and supermarkets. A large portion of the energy consumed by these entities goes to satisfy lighting and air conditioning needs. Therefore, the use of electronic ballasts and high efficacy fluorescent lamps will be promoted for lighting purposes.

Electronic ballasts will be used to replace the less efficient magnetic ballasts, which are currently used in the majority of cases. High efficacy fluorescent tubes, which are brighter, and use less energy than ordinary fluorescent tubes, will be used to replace ordinary fluorescent tubes. The brighter output makes it possible to use fewer lamps to achieve the same lighting levels, and the lower wattage results in lower power consumption per lamp.

For air conditioning systems, the emphasis will be on the use of timers to reduce operating time where it is clear that units are made to run excessively. There will also be remedial retrofitting to reduce cooling load and to correct faulty system design and installation practices, which cause the units to operate inefficiently.

Operators of commercial buildings, which are billed for electricity at Rate 40, pay a demand charge, which is related to the power factor of the facility. Power factor ranges between 0 and 1, and the lower the value the higher the demand charge on the electricity bill will be. This is so because a low power factor tends to waste generation capacity at the power plant; therefore, the power company will penalize customers with low or poor power factor. A low power factor can be corrected by adding capacitors at the electricity service entrance, or across large electric motors. Firms will be assisted in carrying out remedial work in this area of energy use. Solar water heating in entities such as hotels will be encouraged, and the target is that about 5,000 additional solar water heating systems should be installed in commercial and small business sector.