Leading retailers to stop selling energy-wasting TVs

Peta Hodge

22nd March 2010

Eight leading electrical retailers – which between them account for more than 50 per cent of television sales in the UK – have joined a new scheme to remove the least energy efficient TVs from their shelves.

The companies involved in the initiative – Best Buy UK, Comet, Co-operative Electrical, DSGi (Currys and PC World), John Lewis Partnership, Home Retail Group (Argos), Marks & Spencer, and Sainsbury’s – have also undertaken to educate their customers about the benefits of buying an energy efficient TV.

The retailers’ initiative has been launched by Defra and the Energy Saving Trust ahead of this summer’s football World Cup, when television sales are expected to receive a considerable boost.

In the three months in the run up to the 2006 World Cup, electrical retailers in the UK sold 1.4 million television sets – but the Energy Saving Trust predicts that as many as 1.6 million will leave the shelves before this year’s World Cup finals.

A sizable 7.5 per cent of the average domestic electricity bill is spent on powering televisions. According to figures from Defra and the Energy Saving Trust, the worst performing 42 inch televisions on sale today can cost around £75 a year to run, whereas an equivalent sized energy efficient TV – one carrying the ‘Energy Saving Recommended’ logo – would cost only £33 a year to run.

Energy Saving Trust scheme endorses top 20 per cent energy saving products

Under the Energy Saving Recommended scheme, the Energy Saving Trust aims to endorse the top 20 per cent of energy saving products in every product category. It says customers choosing to buy an Energy Saving Recommended television over a poor performer could shave around £340 from their electricity bills over the lifetime of the TV – and save more than a tonne of carbon dioxide.

Commenting on the initiative, Environment Minister Dan Norris said: “I’m pleased that so many of our leading electrical stores have made this commitment to remove the least energy efficient TVs from their shelves.”

“There is more work to be done to further improve the energy efficiency of these products but, with a World Cup around the corner when we know some people will be thinking of buying a new TV, it’s great for them to know that the models sold by these retailers will save them money on their energy bills and help the environment.”