Compare How Much Less Electricity Grade 1 Uses Than Grade 5

What figures do the government notices give?

Look at the two notices the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy posted on the Policy Briefing site side by side, and the numbers differ.

The two notices differ in when they were posted and what they cover. Since the notices don't explain the reason for the gap, don't read either one as a figure that fits every product.

How do you use these figures in your own calculation?

The ratio is based on what a grade 5 product uses. To see how the calculation works, I'll assume some numbers. They are assumptions for explanation, not real product values.

• Assume a grade 5 product's monthly power consumption is 100kWh.
• If grade 1 uses 30 to 40% less, that is 60 to 70kWh.
• If it uses 30 to 50% less, that is 50 to 70kWh.

In practice, you don't need to multiply by a ratio; you can just subtract the monthly power consumption on the two products' labels to get the difference. The Korea Energy Agency product search shows power consumption, capacity, and annual energy cost together, so you can compare candidates on the same basis.

What happens to the grades when the standard changes?

The 2021 notice said that from October of that year, a mid- to long-term target efficiency standard would be introduced for three items (refrigerators, air conditioners, TVs). It set the top and bottom grade standards for three and six years ahead as targets, raising the grade 1 standard by 1% every year and raising grade 5 to the current grade 4 level over three years. It also noted plans to extend this later to kimchi refrigerators, washing machines, air purifiers, and more.

The 2018 notice also explained that when standards are tightened, even the same product can get a different grade depending on its manufacturing date. So it's better not to compare a grade 1 received long ago directly with a recent grade 1.

Instead of ratios, what do you compare before buying?

• Compare the monthly power consumption between candidate products in the same category.
• If the capacity differs, check the capacity as well.
• Check that the manufacturing date and the label grade match the lookup result.
• For categories with no grade label, check whether there is a minimum energy performance standard label.