From 1 October 2009, Tier 1 MEPS levels apply to new televisions which are offered for sale in Australia. Tier 1 is equivalent to 1 star in the rating scale as set out below.

Commencing not earlier than 1 October 2012, Tier 2 MEPS levels apply to new televisions which are offered for sale in Australia. Tier 2 is equivalent to 4 stars in the rating scale with achievability to be confirmed by a marketplace review to be undertaken and reported by April 2011.

An approved Energy Label for televisions must be displayed on all products which are offered for sale in Australia.

The full technical details are specified in AS/NZS 62087.2.2:2010, which should be consulted for details.

A fact sheet on television labelling and MEPS provides more details.

Additional information for retailers and consumers is also available.

Usage Assumptions

On mode

The usage assumption for televisions for the purposes of energy labelling and MEPS is 10 hours per day in on mode.

Passive Standby

In this power mode the television is only monitoring the signal from the remote control or an internal timer for a command to turn on. This is a very low power mode expected to be under 1W. It is assumed that the product is in this mode for the remaining 14 hours per day, less any time in active standby mode.

Active Standby

In this power mode the television is not producing any pictures or sound but is performing other functions such as downloading electronic programme guides, doing a firmware update etc. This mode normally requires the tuner to be operational as well as the necessary processing power to perform the required functions. This mode would be expected to consume significantly more power than Passive Standby but significantly less power than when the display is operating. Where a television has Active Standby mode it would normally operate in this mode for short periods during a 24 hour period. Not all products will have this mode.

Comparative Energy Consumption (CEC)

The annual energy consumption of a television in kWh/year, called the Comparative Energy Consumption or CEC, is calculated from the specified usage pattern of the three main modes as set out above.

Efficiency and Star Rating

The energy efficiency of a television is defined as a function of the annual energy consumption and the screen area.

For televisions the Base Energy Consumption (BEC or 1 star line) is also the Tier 1 MEPS line which comes into force on 1 October 2009.

BEC    =    127.75 + (0.1825 × screen area)
where screen area is in cm² and BEC is in kWh/year.

SRI is the star rating index (fractional star rating)
CEC is the comparative energy consumption (energy that appears on the energy label)
BEC is the base energy consumption – the equation for a product with an SRI of 1.0
ERF is the energy reduction factor – reduction in CEC for each additional star

For televisions, the Energy Reduction Factor (ERF) is set to 0.20, which represents a 20% reduction in annual energy consumption per additional star.

More information on how the star rating is calculated can be found on the television star rating page.

MEPS Levels

Tier 1 MEPS for televisions, effective from 1 October 2009, is set out in the following equation (BEC or 1 star line):

Tier 1 MEPS    =    127.75 + (0.1825 × screen area)
where screen area is in cm² and MEPS level is in kWh/year.

Tier 2 MEPS for televisions, commencing not earlier than 1 October 2012, is set out in the following equation:

Tier 2 MEPS    =    90.1 + (0.1168 × screen area)
where screen area is in cm² and MEPS level is in kWh/year.

Other Requirements and Options

Other requirements to note are that the registration requires the applicant to advise what picture mode is the equivalent of ‘home viewing mode’. This picture mode must be the ‘out of box’ condition or the default mode on the start up installation menu. The energy performance tests are performed in the “out of box” condition or the default position of the installation menu. Whenever the television is switched on in ‘store mode’ a warning message must also be provided to inform the viewer that this mode is operational.

Another requirement is that the “Home Viewing Mode” luminance should not be less than 50% of the “Store Display Luminance”.

For further information refer to AS/NZS 62087.1:2010 and AS/NZS 62087.2.2:2010. These standards should be consulted for all the technical details. The preface for AS/NZS62087.2.2:2010 sets out some of the requirements for televisions.