As you shop for electronics, you may have noticed stickers on various household appliances such as refrigerators.
Unknown to many, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) stickers - usually green and white in colour- are placed on electronics to help Kenyans select energy efficient appliances.
In particular, the sticker consists of ratings which can be used by a customer to choose an appliance that consumes less power.
The ratings usually range from one to five stars.
The higher the rating of an appliance, the more energy efficient it is. That is, a fridge rated at five stars consumes less power than that rated at one star.
"Use of energy-efficient appliances helps cut your energy bills, reduce unnecessary strain on electricity demand from the national grid and lower emission of greenhouse gases," EPRA stated.
Common electronics that have EPRA stickers include refrigerators, electrical motors, air conditioners, fluorescent lamps and fluorescent ballasts.
In the stickers, EPRA also details the amount of energy consumed by the appliance per year.
"It is better to buy an appliance with a smaller KWh/per year number, You can calculate the cost of running the appliance by multiplying the 1KWh by the energy consumption number on the sticker," the authority advised.
Other details on the stickers include the licence number that was issued by the authority and details of tests done on the appliance according to standards set by the government.
The stickers were made compulsory by the regulator following the enactment of the Energy (Appliances’ Energy Performance and Labelling) Regulations, 2016.
"The label shall be affixed in a clearly visible position in the manner stipulated in the law and the Commission may from time to time vary the labels referred to in this regulation," reads the regulations in part.
