We present the electricity use in the commercial sector in subtropical Hong Kong during the 31 year period from 1970 to 2000. The average annual growth rate was 7.4% during the past three decades. Commercial buildings, especially shopping centres, are major electricity end uses. A survey of four fully air conditioned shopping centres built during the 1990s was conducted to establish some energy use characteristics pertinent to shopping centres in subtropical climates. It was found that air conditioning and electric lighting were the major electricity end uses, accounting for about 85% of the total building energy use. Electricity use per unit gross floor area ranged from 391 to 454 kW h/m(2), with an average of 430 kW h/m(2). Simple regression analysis also revealed that electricity use showed a strong correlation with the mean monthly outdoor dry bulb temperature. This paper presents the work and discusses the energy efficiency implications.