Why have energy ratings changed?
The energy label has been a mainstay of appliances and products for more than 25 years. It's supported consumers and professional buyers in the searching and choosing of energy efficient products, and helped manufacturers and retailers develop more innovative and efficient products.
Due to increased demand for more environmentally friendly options, the energy that products use has reduced. This meant that the old labelling scheme - ranging from A+++ to G - had become less effective. This made it more difficult for consumers to identify the most efficient products.
Why do the new ratings seem so low?
Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean your household appliances are any less efficient than before, they are just rated slightly different. The new label system also makes it much harder for appliances to be A or B rated, meaning that these categories on our site and many others will seem bare to begin with.
Under the new energy rating scale, products that were once classified as A+++, are now likely rated B or C. A++ is now classified as D or E, and A+ will find themselves F or G rated.
This will motivate brands and inventors to create new appliances which are more eco-friendly than ever before. Understandably, the new system has much stricter requirements to avoid changes to the scale within the near future.
Inevitably, in today’s constantly changing world, the top energy classes will fill up once again in the coming years.
What’s changed?
The main change is the new scale. All labels will run from A to G, whereas old labels ran between A+++ to D. This will apply to refrigerators, washing machines, washer dryers, wine coolers and dishwashers to begin with.
Each new label now shows a QR code in the top right-hand corner which you can view using your phone. This allows you to find out more information about that appliance and its energy rating.
There are redesigned icons – changing depending on the appliance type, to make it simpler to understand the products features and their efficiency.
The final change is that the Union Jack will now show rather than the EU flag to represent the UK leaving the EU.
