Rating Bonanza

The new star rating methodology is set to provide a big push to five-star air conditioners.

- Kumar Rahul

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency's (BEE) new star rating methodology applicable from January 2018 will lead to increase in demand for inverter models, opine air conditioner-makers, such as LG, Voltas, Carrier and Panasonic. Besides, the new rating norms will also benefit customers by reducing running cost as it will consume less energy although price for a five-star AC will go up, they add.

The new rating methodology, the Indian Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (ISEER), was voluntarily introduced in 2015 and was adopted by leading AC manufacturers for their range of inverter ACs. Hence, the price of the inverter range of ACs would remain the same.

The BEE has introduced ISEER for air conditioners to address the issue of different climatic zones in India. ISEER measures energy efficiency of air conditioners based on a weighted average of performance at outside temperatures between 24 and 43 degrees Celsius based on the Indian weather data.