by BlockleyN

What’s New for Energy Labels?

Your home appliance energy labels are about to change, here is what you need to know…

Way back when we started rating home appliances for their energy efficiency, the A, B, C system worked fine. Categorising fridges, wine coolers, dishwashers, washing machines and washer dryers into the different ratings meant that you, the consumer, could make confident decisions about water and energy consumption when shopping for your new model.

As technology has improved, appliances have become increasingly more energy efficient and many of them fit into the same broad energy label bracket. The time has come to revaluate the system in order to make things clearer for you, and to encourage manufacturers like us to continue researching and developing so that we can keep on improving.

When does it start?

The changes have already started to happen, with new energy labels starting to be introduced in 2020. In the run up to 1st March 2021, the official switching date, we have been working hard to test and label our appliances correctly to comply with this new scale.

What should I look for?

There will be a period of transition, where appliances might feature two labels. This doesn’t mean to say that one is wrong, and both labels will be relevant for the appliance. The higher rating will inevitably be the old energy rating and the lower rating will be the new one.

This is what the current energy labels look like:

This is what the new energy labels will look like:

These changes will encourage further energy savings by making manufacturers simply ‘try harder’, and this can only be a good thing for our environment and your pocket when it comes to household bills.