In this study, typical load shapes for two categories of Swedish commercial and public buildings-schools and hotels-are presented and discussed. The measurements from 13 schools and nine hotels in the southern part of Sweden were analysed. Load shapes were developed for different mean daily outdoor temperatures and different day-types-standard weekdays and standard weekends. The load shapes are presented as non-dimensional normalised l-h load. The typical load shapes give a reasonable approximation of the measured load shapes, although the relative errors exceed 20% of the mean values during some hours. Daytime (9 a.m.-5 p.m.) results are generally good with errors of about 10%. Absolute errors remain relatively constant during the year, but as mean values decrease, the relative errors increase, causing relative errors up to 30% during some time periods.