Reading the yellow EnergyGuide label

Every appliance has two costs, the price you pay for it and the cost of the energy it uses for the 10 to 20 years you'll own it. Manufacturers are required to put the yellow EnergyGuide label on appliances to show the second one. It shows how much energy the appliance uses and how that compares with similar models.

What's on the label

1. Key features. What the appliance has, and the features of the similar models it's compared against.
2. Make, model and size. Which appliance the label belongs to.
3. Estimated yearly operating cost. The big dollar figure, based on the national average price of electricity, with a scale showing the range of operating costs for similar models.
4. Estimated yearly electricity use. The energy it uses in a year, in kilowatt-hours.

The cost and energy figures are averages. What you actually pay depends on how you use the appliance and on what your utility charges. Smart appliances can be set to run when electricity prices are low.

The EnergyGuide label and ENERGY STAR

The two labels show different things. The EnergyGuide label shows how much energy a particular model uses and where it sits among similar ones. The ENERGY STAR logo shows that a model meets a federal efficiency standard. An appliance can carry both.

An annotated example

What to do next

When a new appliance arrives, photograph its EnergyGuide label before you peel it off, and keep the photo with the receipt and model number. The yearly energy figure is a baseline for what the appliance should cost to run. What the ENERGY STAR label means covers the other label.