Appliance Standards and Labeling regulations have been put in place to protect consumers from purchasing appliances that use a wasteful amount of energy and to ensure that consumers can easily understand the likely energy consumption of an appliance before purchase. Follow the links below to find out how to read the label for a particular appliance and to calculate how much energy the appliance is likely to use as well as tips on how to use the appliance more efficiently.
Benefits for consumers
Appliance Standards and Labeling has the following benefits for consumers:
- Consumers are protected from purchasing appliances that use a wasteful amount of energy.
- Consumers have access to easily understandable and comparable information regarding the electricity consumption of any appliances you are considering purchasing.
- Any appliance that consumers purchase will meet Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) and is likely to require less electricity to operate, will save electricity and will reduce the amount of money spent on electricity by consumers.
Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS)
All appliances sold in South Africa must meet Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS). These regulations have been put in place to protect consumers from purchasing appliances that use a wasteful amount of electricity. It is now illegal to sell appliances on the South African Market that do not meet these MEPS.
South African Energy Efficiency Label
Regulations have also been put in place that require appliances sold in South Africa to be labelled with a South Africa Energy Efficiency Label. The energy efficiency label is designed to provide consumers with accurate and comparable information on the energy efficiency of household appliances. The information provided on the label indicates the energy efficiency rating of each appliance, the manufacturer, and product model. For some appliances, the label will also have non-energy data such as water consumption per cycle and appliance noise level.
Appliance Energy Calculation Tools
When purchasing an appliance, it is important to understand how much energy it will use and as a result how much money it costs to run the appliance. Calculation tools were created to aid consumers to make more informed decisions by calculating the long term cost for running an appliance. In addition, an Appliance Energy Calculator app has been designed. This app assists consumers to estimate the running costs of various appliances using the information supplied on the South African Energy Efficiency Label attached in-store. Download the app for free here.