MEPs gave the green light on Tuesday for a tool enabling customers to choose products reducing energy consumption and their energy bills.

A new, more robust A to G scale showing the energy efficiency of household appliances to keep pace with technological progress was approved by MEPs on Tue by 535 votes to 46, with 79 abstentions.

Customers will be able to choose more efficient products in order to reduce energy consumption and their energy bills, while manufacturers will be encouraged to innovate and invest in more energy efficient products.

The customers should be able to see the first labels with the new rating scale without the “+” (“A+/A++/etc.”) indications in shops at the earliest at the end of 2019. To keep pace with improvements in energy efficiency, any future re-classification will be triggered when 30% of products sold on the EU market fall into the top energy efficiency class A, or when 50% of these products fall into the top two energy efficiency classes A and B.

The labels will be placed on the products in printed format and their online versions and product information will be searchable and downloadable. In the event of updates that would affect the energy efficiency of a product already purchased, the supplier should inform the customer, says the text.

Any visual advertisement or technical promotional material should refer to the energy efficiency class and to the scale available on the label, and information campaigns for consumers will be run in order to highlight the newly introduced versions of the labels.

The Commission has to create a product database with a technical part to help national authorities monitor compliance and an online portal for the public, to support market surveillance authorities and provide consumers with additional information about the products. It should also draw up enforcement guidelines for this regulation as regards best practices for product testing and information exchange.

The EP rapporteur, Dario Tamburrano (EFDD, IT) said: “Citizens will have a clear, smart, digital system. Thanks to open, accessible data, new tools will allow citizens to compare products based on their habits and so buy more wisely. Smart appliances are the new frontier of energy efficiency and will measure how much and when to use it. I expect the Commission to fulfil its commitment to give Europeans a redress mechanism beyond the two-year warranty.”