Energy performance standards for refrigerators to be raised from Dec 2017

National Environment Agency (NEA) has announced that households can look forward to having more energy efficient refrigerator models in the market and reap energy cost savings from using them from December 2017.

NEA said that refrigerators account for about 18 per cent of total household electricity consumption. To help households save on energy costs and spur the supply of more energy efficient refrigerators. Therefore, NEA will raise the Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) for refrigerators by between 5 per cent and 13 per cent, depending on the refrigerator category, starting from 1 December 2017.

NEA said that the least energy efficient 1-tick refrigerator models, representing about 15 per cent of the models currently available in the market, do not meet the new MEPS and will be phased out when the new standards are introduced. There will still be a wide range of refrigerator models available to consumers, and suppliers are also expected to introduce new models over time.

It stated that by choosing more energy efficient refrigerators, households can expect to enjoy more cost savings over the operating lifespan of the refrigerators and also help reduce Singapore’s carbon footprint. A household is estimated to save about $75 in electricity bills per year by using a 3-tick instead of a 1-tick model.

According to NEA, since the introduction of mandatory energy labelling in 2008 and MEPS for refrigerators in 2011, the average efficiency of refrigerators has improved by about 26 per cent, resulting in more than $18 million in annual energy cost savings for households, or the yearly electricity consumption of around 14,000 homes. These measures have also led to a total carbon abatement of about 0.03 MT – equivalent to the annual carbon emissions of close to 9,000 cars.

It also noted that importers, manufacturers and retailers have been given early notice of the enhanced MEPS to prepare for its implementation. NEA will continue to review MEPS to assess whether standards for household appliances should be raised.

More details on MEPS for refrigerators can be found at www.nea.gov.sg/els. Households can also use the Life Cycle Cost Calculator found on the E2Singapore website (http://www.e2singapore.gov.sg/) and in NEA’s myENV mobile app to determine the potential cost savings from using more energy efficient appliances.