The coloured label stuck to the front of a new fridge or washing machine is one of the few honest comparisons you get while shopping, yet most people glance at the letter and move on. The letter is the least useful part. Buried in the small print is a number that tells you, in kilowatt-hours, roughly what the thing will cost to run every year, and that number is what separates a cheap appliance from a cheap-to-own one.
What the label actually tells you
An energy label packs several facts into one card. The big coloured arrow gives the overall efficiency grade. Below it sit the figures that earned that grade: an annual or per-cycle energy use in kWh, and depending on the product a water use, a spin rating, a noise level in decibels and a capacity. The grade is a quick summary, but it is the kWh figure that you can turn into money. The same label format now runs across fridges and freezers, washing machines, dishwashers, tumble dryers, televisions and more, so once you can read one you can read them all.
The A to G scale and the 2021 reset
For years the scale crept upward until almost everything was rated A, then A+, then A++ and A+++, which made the grades close to meaningless because nearly every model clustered at the top. In 2021 the labels were reset to a plain A to G scale, and the bar was raised hard, so that at launch hardly anything reached A and a great many decent appliances landed at C, D or E. A modern E is not a bad appliance; it is simply being judged against a tougher, more spread-out yardstick than the old A+++ ever was. If you are comparing an older model carrying a plus-rated label with a newer one on the reset scale, the letters are not speaking the same language, which is another reason to drop down to the kWh figure and compare like with like.
The number that matters most
Find the kWh figure and you can stop guessing. For a fridge or freezer it is usually given as kWh per year, since the appliance runs continuously. For a washing machine, dishwasher or dryer it is often given per 100 cycles, because how much you use it is up to you, so you scale it to your own washing habits. Either way the sum is the same one the running cost calculator does: kWh multiplied by your price per unit gives the yearly cost. A fridge-freezer listed at 150 kWh a year, at an example 30p per kWh, costs about 45 a year to run; one listed at 300 kWh costs about 90. That 45 gap repeats every year for the decade or more the appliance lasts.
Why a pricier model can be the cheaper one
This is where the label changes a buying decision. Say two washing machines sit side by side, one 60 cheaper to buy but using noticeably more electricity and water per cycle. Run the efficient one through a few years of your actual washing and the running-cost difference can swallow that 60 saving and keep going. The cheaper sticker price is real, but it is a one-off, while the running cost lands every year you own the thing. For appliances that run constantly, like the fridge-freezer, or often, like the washing machine, the lifetime running cost usually dwarfs the small difference in purchase price, so the efficient model is frequently the cheaper choice once you count the whole bill rather than just the till receipt.
Reading the label for the big users
Spend the effort where the energy goes. A fridge-freezer never switches off, so its annual kWh figure is worth real attention, as the fridge and freezer guide sets out. A washing machine's energy use is dominated by heating water, so the per-cycle figure and the wash temperatures it offers both matter, and the washing machine running cost guide goes into the detail. Tumble dryers vary enormously, with heat-pump models using a fraction of the electricity of the old vented sort, a gap the label makes obvious; the tumble dryer guide explains why. For a kettle or a toaster the label barely matters, because the appliance runs for minutes a day and the running cost is trivial whichever you pick.
Where the label can mislead
Treat the figures as a fair comparison, not a promise. The annual kWh is measured under a standard test programme that may look nothing like how you use the machine: a washing machine's quoted figure usually assumes the eco setting, which runs longer and cooler than the quick wash most people reach for, so your real use can run higher. Capacity matters too, since a large efficient appliance can use more in total than a small inefficient one if you only ever half-fill it, and the grade rewards efficiency for the size rather than the absolute amount. The label is excellent for ranking similar models against each other; it is weaker as a forecast of your own bill, which is why pairing it with the running-cost sum for your own habits is the sensible move.
Using it alongside the running-cost sums
The label and the calculator work best together. The label hands you a tested, comparable kWh figure you would struggle to measure yourself, and the running-cost calculator turns that figure into pounds at your own tariff over the hours you actually use the thing. Look past the letter to the kWh, scale it to how you really live, and weigh the yearly running cost against the difference in sticker price. Do that for the appliances that run long and often and you will buy fewer regrets, because the cheap appliance and the cheap-to-run appliance are rarely the same one, and the label is how you tell them apart before the money has left your pocket.