The EU energy label is a standardised sticker, shown both in shops and online, that rates a television's energy efficiency on a scale from A, the most efficient, to G, the least efficient. It was rescaled in 2021 to leave room at the top of the scale for future improvements, so a rating from before that date is not directly comparable to a current one.
Alongside the letter grade, the label shows the television's estimated annual energy consumption in kilowatt hours, based on a standard usage pattern, along with the screen size and resolution. Actual consumption in a specific household can differ from this estimate depending on brightness settings, how many hours the television is used, and which picture mode is active, since a brighter, more processed picture mode typically draws more power than a calibrated or power saving one.
Comparing the letter grade and the annual kilowatt hour figure side by side across models of similar screen size gives a reasonably fair sense of relative running cost. See our guide to TV energy consumption and the entry on standby power for more.
