What Happened To The Energy Labels?
European Union took initiative in delivering more informed purchase information for customers of electrical and electronic devices early on. For more than two decades and a half, the metric of the energy label stayed almost the same. Recently it had been thoroughly redesigned and several household appliances are now labeled as electricity guzzlers. What changed?
The old energy label scale, featuring A+++ through G labelling, had become difficult to under-stand, losing its effectiveness. The higher classes, with many “+”, were too densely populated, and almost no products belonged to the “A” class and lower ones as they were banned from the market as a consequence of the Ecodesign energy consumption requirements. This confused customers to individuate the most efficient product and made it difficult for manufacturers to show which products are the most energy-efficient.
Now there’s a new/revised and optimized energy label system put in place in the EU (since March 1st, 2021). Significant changes were made, aiming to simplify the system for the customers and to help them cut their energy bills, but also to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The new scale is stricter and designed so that very few products are initially able to achieve the “A” rating, leaving space for more efficient products to be included in the future.
The most energy-efficient products currently on the market will now typically be labelled as Class “B”, “C” or “D”.
For now, the new energy label currently applies to four main categories: fridges and freezers, dishwashers, washing machines, and television sets. Other product categories will follow soon. The simplified and stricter scale A-G scale is much clearer for the customers, as it excludes the classes with “+” sign/s.
Easier decision making
The role of EU energy label is indisputable as it continues to be a significant household feature that has helped European consumers make an appropriate choice throughout the last 25 years. To adapt to the needs of a modern consumer, the European Union modernized the existing system, delivering the so-called rescaling of the energy efficiency classes. Stricter, but at the same time, simpler A-G scale will make a customer’s choice of household appliances much easier. Besides, the new label includes a QR code featuring a link to an EU-wide database called EPREL (Europe-an Product Database for Energy Labelling) where customers can find more details about the prod-ucts. Modern design with clearer icons makes the new label even more customer-friendly. As well as the old label, the new one will also show additional features like energy consumption and up-dated pictograms at the bottom of the label.
The emphasis on customer’s rights
Together with the new energy label a new set of ecodesign rules also took effect. New regulations will significantly reinforce customers’ rights and enable them to get spare parts of the products even after the appliance is not available on the market anymore. Following the new rules, they will be able to require certain spare parts from the manufacturers or importers even several years after the product has been taken off the market. Further on, the maximum delivery time for such an order is only 15 days. Additionally, the manufactures will be obligated to make sure that essential parts are at the disposition of professional repairers for at least 7 to 10 years after the last unit of a model has been placed on the EU market. This new rule will notably impact the circular economy and lead to more sustainable solutions. Your new household appliances should now last at least a decade and not break down soon after their warranty expired.
Gorenje as energy champions
Don’t worry, Gorenje’s products rank high on the new scale too. We are one of the leading European manufacturers of household appliances and take environmental awareness very seriously. We tend to make the process of developing and producing new appliances as environmentally friendly as possible. Our vision of simplifying the life of the customers can only be achieved with highly efficient household appliances.
Therefore, best Gorenje’s washing machines (Gorenje WS 846LN) and tumble dryers (Gorenje DS94ILS/I) rank as class A on the A-G scale, while the winners in the category of refrigerators and dishwashers (Gorenje GV672C62, Gorenje GV672C60, Gorenje GV671C60) correspond to class C on the same scale as well as our refrigerators where we have several products in the new C class (Gorenje NRC6194SXL5M, Gorenje NRK61CAXL4, Gorenje HZF3668SND and many others).
