Is there a Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) star label for chest deep freezers, and is it mandatory?

BEE launched a voluntary star label for hardtop and glass top chest deep freezers on 2 March 2020. Ratings use annual energy in kilowatt hours (kWh) a year under Indian Standard (IS) 7872. The release lists hardtop and glass top chest freezers only; it does not mention upright ones (about 1 percent of the market).

What the release says

• Launched on a voluntary basis. The energy consumption standards were stated as effective up to 31 December 2021.
• Covers hardtop and glass top chest type deep freezers of all capacities, complying with IS 302-2-24 for safety and IS 7872 for energy performance.
• Benchmarks are based on annual energy consumption in kWh a year.
• Market: about 5 to 6 lakh units for the chest and upright segment in financial year (FY) 2017-18, more than doubled in three years at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28 percent. Chest type is about 99 percent of the market and about 3.72 lakh units were imported (year not given).

What the release does not say

The release does not say whether the programme became mandatory or what the rating bands are. Ask the seller for the label, or for the test report with kWh a year, and compare models on that number.

Turning kWh a year into a bill and carbon dioxide (CO2)

Annual kWh on the label times your tariff gives the running cost, and times 0.675 kilograms of CO2 per kWh (FY 2025-26 grid) gives Scope 2 emissions, if the freezer sits on your own meter. A label figure is a standard test result, so a freezer opened often in a hot shop will use more.

Two chest freezers on one meter (example)

• Model A: 520 kWh a year. Model B: 410 kWh a year.
• Gap: 520 minus 410 = 110 kWh a year per freezer
• Five freezers: 110 x 5 = 550 kWh a year
• At 0.675 kilograms of CO2 per kWh: 550 x 0.675 = 371 kilograms of CO2 a year

The kWh figures are examples, not label values for real models.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records, so the kilowatt hours on your bills before and after a change sit in one place.

• Supermarket display freezer electricity
• BEE star label: mandatory or voluntary
• Star label programme size
• Grid electricity emission factor

Sources: Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Power: star rating for deep freezers and light commercial air conditioners (2 March 2020)

Last reviewed 2026-11-05. Scope, standards, dates and market figures are from the Press Information Bureau release of 2 March 2020. The release gives no later status or rating bands, so the page says so. Example kWh figures are not real models.