Press

The NMO has completed an investigation into an offence relating to the mislabelling of chest freezers in relation to energy ratings. John Gillman & Sons (Electrical) Ltd, the company found to be supplying these products, were issued a formal caution after admitting to the offence.

In April 2010 the NMO initiated a project to assess the level of conformance across the refrigerator and freezer markets in accordance with the Energy Information and Ecodesign Regulations.

As part of the programme an Ice King DM450 chest freezer (amongst other products) was purchased and subjected to testing to the terms of the harmonised standards. When this did not reach the required testing conditions three further DM450 freezers were sampled in accordance with the standards.

The freezers were declared to have an A+ energy efficiency rating, using 263kWh/year of energy according to the energy labels supplied. However, testing showed them to use an average of 310kWh/year, making the products B rated. This represents approximately an extra £40 in surplus energy costs for consumers over the lifespan of the chest freezer.

The Ice King brand is solely owned in the UK by John Gillman and Sons (Electrical) Ltd. The appliances were manufactured in China, with a Danish company acting as an intermediary in the supply chain. The Danish business took responsibility for testing, but despite this process the freezers failed accredited testing in the UK. No additional checks were carried out in the UK by the company.

On the NMO’s first contact with the company the DM450 freezers were withdrawn from the market and held in quarantine. Over the following months the NMO and the company worked together towards compliance. No further DM450 models were sold and the business cancelled all further orders with their suppliers in Denmark and China, replacing them with new manufacturers of Ice King branded freezers.

Adrian Gillman, Managing Director of the company stated; “We consider ourselves a professional trading company being in business for over 40 years and have been horrified to experience that the product we have sourced hasn’t been capable of meeting both the legal standards and those we specified.”

The company has accepted their responsibility in this case and the impact that has been made on consumers and the environment. It has voluntarily arranged to pay for the work done by the accredited test house in establishing the energy use of the samples taken. This reflects the new legislative changes that will take full effect later in 2011, allowing the Enforcement Authority to reclaim testing costs should products fail to comply with an applicable implementing measure.

Director of Enforcement at NMO, Richard Frewin added: “This company first came to the attention of the enforcement community in 2009 when they were prosecuted for mislabelling a freezer which had a much greater inaccuracy than discovered in this case. At the time the company took some steps to ensure that the problem would not occur again and are very disappointed that another manufacturer has let them down. The company has ceased all trading with the manufacturer and now sources its product from a more reliable source.

“The lesson to be gleaned from this company's experience is to check to ensure that the product being placed on the market in the UK is the same as the one against which the manufacturer is making energy efficiency claims and that poor manufacturing and transportation procedures do not impact on the quality and performance of the product over time ”

In-line with the Market Surveillance activities under the ErP (Energy Related Products) Directive, the National Measurement Office (NMO) has recently undertaken a project to assess the knowledge and awareness of Eco-design in the audio appliances market.

All household and office electrical equipment must now conform to certain requirements when in standby or off mode. In standby mode, where the equipment has only a re-activation function, current requirements state it shall not consume more than 1 Watt. In standby mode, where the equipment shows information or a status display as well as a re-activation function, it shall not consume more than 2 Watts.

For this project ten radios were sent for testing to a UKAS accredited laboratory. Five of these radios did not comply with the current standby requirements. Significantly the five non-compliant models consumed approximately five times more energy than the five compliant models.

The producers of the five non-compliant models were then contacted by the NMO to verify what date the products were “placed on the market” (ref 1) in order to ascertain whether any offences had been committed. This further investigation found that three models had been superseded with updated compliant versions. The other two models had been discontinued prior to the requirements coming into force. The cost savings for the consumer resulting from the three superseded models becoming Eco-design compliant is approximately £83,000 per year.

The standby mode requirements tighten in January 2013 in an effort to further reduce energy losses from electronic equipment. Seven of the radios the NMO had tested would not comply under these stricter requirements. This prompted the NMO to inform all producers of the related radios about the changing requirements to ensure future Eco-design compliance.

In carrying out this project the NMO has highlighted the importance of carrying out surveillance work and enforcing the ErP Directive as this will:

• establish whether the market is complying
• create substantial savings for the consumer
• help the UK reach its target carbon emission reduction challenges

Earlier this year the National Measurement Office (NMO) undertook a project to evaluate the energy efficiency claims made on lamps available through major high street distributors.

Each lamp packaging is required to display a statement about the amount of energy it uses and how much light it emits together these criteria define the energy efficiency class.

Over 250 lamps were assessed. The results showed that 31 lamps were displaying incorrect information. Of those, 15 lamps displayed a higher energy efficiency rating than they should have done, 11 lamps displayed a lower energy class than indicated and the 5 remaining lamps displayed inaccuracies regarding the amount of light or energy used.

The producers were contacted by the National Measurement Office and given the opportunity to respond to the findings. The companies responded immediately and worked with the National Measurement Office to propose a solution. Each company produced a business improvement plan which involved stopping any further placing on the market of the lamps concerned, a strategy for dealing with those lamps that were still in the distribution chain and, in one case, an in-store consumer information campaign showing the corrected information. The National Measurement Office has agreed to continue working alongside the companies to ensure that they fulfil the requirements of their business improvement plans and to ensure that all future information provided to consumers about energy efficiency ratings is accurate.

The Energy Information (Lamps) Regulations provides consumers with information so they can make effective choices about the amount of energy their lamps use. Each lamp receives a classification A through to G based on the amount of light it produces and the energy it uses, A being the more energy efficient.

"Fitting just one energy saving light bulb can save you on average £2.50 a year and by swapping all the light bulbs in your home for energy saving ones you could save around £37 per year” explains the Energy Savings Trust."

The National Measurement Office (NMO) has been appointed as market surveillance authority (MSA) under the European Union Energy Using Products and Energy Labelling Framework Directives.

Environment Minister, Dan Norris said:

"We are pleased to announce the appointment of the National Measurement Office to do this important job. It is vital we ensure our energy using products are using less energy and are adhering to the standards we are setting to reduce emissions and reduce energy bills for everyone who buys them. This is a good way to bring together existing expertise, get value for money for the taxpayer and help protect the environment."

National Measurement Office Chief Executive, Peter Mason, said:

"I am delighted that we will be working in partnership with Defra in taking on this additional enforcement responsibility. We are now in a position to deliver a wider range of market surveillance services in the UK. This latest expansion of our remit to include energy conservation fits well with our already established enforcement delivery in environmental protection."

The MSA will be in place to make sure that product claims under energy labelling (such as “A-rated fridges”) and minimum energy standards are adhered to by manufacturers, and where necessary, retailers. This creates a level playing field for manufacturers by ensuring that standards are complied with by all and avoids consumers being misled into buying products that will cost them more in energy bills than they expect.