SINGAPORE : From January 1 next year, all air-conditioners and refrigerators must have labels showing how energy efficient they are.

This means that the average consumer will know up front how much electricity they consume.

Choosing a $900 air-conditioner over a $1,500 energy efficient one will make sense to consumers who are comparing price tags.

But picking the costlier one, which comes with a higher energy efficiency rate, may make better financial sense in the long run.

"We hope this labelling scheme will be able to provide customers the information they need so as to make an informed choice in terms of choosing energy efficient appliances that will help save money in the long run," said Joseph Hui Kim Sung, Director-General of Environment Protection Division at the National Environment Agency (NEA).

According to NEA, yearly savings for a highly efficient energy saving model which comes with 4 ticks on the energy label, compared to a model without ticks, can run to as high as $860.

NEA also hopes that raising awareness will shift consumer demand to high energy efficient, environmentally-friendly products.

This will also encourage manufacturers to streamline their products, as each certification test for the labels will cost around US$4,000.

Sonny Chuah, GM of Air-conditioning Division at LG Electronics Singapore said: "Right now, we are offering quite a huge range of products for the local market. But we will have to be realistic, not every product has to be sold in Singapore because it doesn't make sense to be offering a full range.

"We have to justify the volume that we have to sell. Therefore, if it's a particular design you want and it's not approved, either we seek approval or don't offer the model here in Singapore."

Consumers won't have to worry about shouldering the new test costs.

"Price is driven by market forces. Even if we want to throw this onto the consumer, the market prices will determine whether you can do it or not. So the reality is no, I don't think these costs we incur will be passed onto the consumer," said Chuah.

Buyers are already showing signs of appreciating environmentally-friendly appliances.

For now, only refrigerators and air-conditioners, which make up as much as 66 percent of household energy consumption, will be labelled.

Consumers can refer to the NEA website for a collated list which will include more appliances in the future. - CNA /ls