Revised energy labels and extension of performance standards to help consumers shop with greater confidence and achieve better energy efficiency
Singapore, 11 March 2014 – Consumers can soon make even better informed decisions when purchasing energy intensive home appliances due to enhancements to the National Environment Agency’s (NEA) Mandatory Energy Labelling Scheme (MELS) and extension of the Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) to include more appliances.
2 The improvements to MELS and MEPS seek to encourage more households to choose energy efficient appliances with low life-cycle costs. This, in turn, will allow them to reduce their utilities bills as well as help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the long run. (Refer to Annex A for more information on MELS and MEPS.)
Revised Energy Labels
3 Starting from 1 September 2014, the revised energy labels will carry estimated annual energy cost and energy consumption information. This will help inform consumers of the life-cycle cost of an appliance before purchasing it. With the introduction and tightening of MEPS, and the continuous improvements in the energy performance of appliances over the years, the existing tick rating system has limited bands to differentiate appliance models. To better differentiate more efficient models from the less efficient ones and reflect the improvements in the energy efficiencies of appliances in today’s market, the energy rating system will be recalibrated.
4 Under the new rating system, the most efficient models will be awarded 5-ticks. 1-tick products will make up the lowest efficiency band. The “no-ticks” band will be removed as some consumers were confused when they came across labels without any ticks.
5 The energy label design will also be updated to boost its readability. However, to retain consumers’ familiarity of the previous energy label, the rounded-top, rating descriptor and rating scale design will be retained. (Refer to Annex B on how to read the new label.)
Extension of MELS to Televisions
6 MELS will also be extended to televisions in April 2014, making it the first appliance under the MELS umbrella to carry the revised labels. As consumers may be attracted to buy large screen high-performance televisions, MELS could help heighten consumers’ awareness of the energy performance of such televisions and assist them in their purchasing decisions. Potential energy savings for the whole of Singapore from switching from low to medium or high efficiency televisions are estimated to be between $12.2 million and $19.7 million annually[1].
7 Following NEA’s consultation with suppliers, the revised energy labels will officially come into effect for air-conditioners, refrigerators and clothes dryers in September this year. Progressively, NEA intends to extend MELS to other energy intensive home appliances.
Extension of MEPS to Clothes Dryers and Lighting
8 Besides the energy labelling scheme, MEPS is another initiative by NEA aimed to help consumers lower their energy consumption at homes. MEPS will be implemented for clothes dryers in April 2014, and general lighting later this year. NEA’s household energy consumption study commissioned in 2011 showed that clothes dryers are widely used in private apartments and landed housing where the penetration rates are 32% and 18% respectively. For such homes, clothes dryers can account for about 5% of their total energy consumption. Lighting is used in all households and is among the top 5 energy consuming household appliances and devices.
9 Over the next few years, NEA will progressively tighten MEPS levels and also extend MEPS to other appliances to further encourage suppliers to continually bring in even more energy efficient household appliances.
10 As suppliers have been introducing more and more energy efficient models since the implementation of MEPS, there is now an increased availability of such appliances in the market. This spells good news for consumers. Their upfront cost is lowered further as energy efficient appliances become more affordable.
11 By choosing appliances carefully, consumers stand to reap significant cost savings over the life-cycle of owning an appliance. Refer to Annex C for a summary on the potential annual energy savings per household for air-conditioners, refrigerator, televisions, clothes dryers and general lighting.
[1] Based on average tariff of 2009 - 2013 including 7% GST, 5 hours of daily usage and 1.146 million households have a television each.
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For more information, please contact
Call Centre: 1800-CALL NEA (1800-2255 632)
Email: Contact_NEA@nea.gov.sg
ANNEX A
Conserving Energy in Households
In order to encourage households to choose energy efficient home appliances, NEA has implemented several initiatives to help consumers make an informed purchasing decision, which the market has also responded positively to since their introduction. The two initiatives are the Mandatory Energy Labelling Scheme (MELS) and Mandatory Energy Performance Standards (MEPS).
Mandatory Energy Labelling Scheme (MELS)
The implementation of MELS in 2008 made it mandatory for air-conditioners and refrigerators, which are energy intensive home appliances to carry energy labels. These energy labels provide information to consumers so that they can take into account the energy costs when purchasing appliances. Energy labelling for household electrical appliances also allows consumers to compare the energy efficiency performance and life-cycle costs of different models, and to make better informed purchasing decisions.
Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS)
MEPS were implemented in 2011 to prohibit sale of appliance models that do not meet the minimum specified energy efficiency levels. Through the removal of inefficient models from our market, this initiative allows households to benefit from lower life-cycle cost savings.
Appended in the table below is the progress of the MELS and MEPS schemes since they were implemented.
| | Mandatory Energy Labelling Scheme (MELS) | Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) |
| Current | - Air-conditioners (2008)
- Refrigerators (2008)
- Clothes dryers (2009)
| - Air-conditioners (2011)
- Refrigerators (2011)
MEPS for air-conditioners and refrigerators were raised in Sep 2013 |
| Upcoming | - Extending MELS to televisions (2014)[1]
- Revised energy label; providing more information to help consumers make better informed purchasing decisions (2014)[2]
| - Extending MEPS to general lighting (2014)[3]
- Extending MEPS to clothes dryers (2014)[4]
|
[1] This was announced at MEWR’s COS debate in 2013.
[2] This was announced at MEWR’s COS debate in 2013.
[3] This was announced at MEWR’s COS debate in 2012.
[4] This was announced at MEWR’s COS debate in 2013.
ANNEX B
ANNEX C
Potential Annual Energy Savings per Households for:
a. Air-conditioners: Switching from a 3-tick to a 4-tick 6 kW multi-split air-conditioner would save a household that uses air-conditioners 8 hours every day up to $480.
b. Refrigerators: Switching from a 3-tick to a 4-tick 400L refrigerator is about $40.
c. Televisions: Switching from a low to medium or high efficiency TV is estimated to be between $11 and $17.
d. Clothes Dryers: Switching from a 2-tick to a 3-tick 6 kg clothes dryer is about $36.
e. General Lighting: Switching from a 60W incandescent lamp to a 12W CFL is about $13 per 1,000 hours of usage.
