The current heat use refers normally to the average heat use in a country or a sector during the course of a year. But it is also important to be aware of the distribution of high to low use when estimating the potential for reducing total heat use.Energy statistical data published in the annual report from Statistics Sweden have been supplemented by a deeper analysis of distribution of heat use and systematic causes regarding high heat use.The aim of this paper is to explain the variation in heat use with respect to construction year, degree days and energy efficiency measures.In the Swedish energy efficiency debate, many voices refer to systematic causes for high heat use. However, the results from this study do not support this opinion, since the use distribution mostly comes from individual causes. The most important implication of the study results is that systematic policy measures will have a low impact on the total national energy efficiency.