As the government continues to ponder on how best to carry out the Brexit ruling, one area that might be overlooked is the EU legislation on energy efficiency in vacuum cleaners and the changes that could come in a post-Brexit UK.
Customers have been confused and frustrated since 2014 when energy efficiency and performance labelling was introduced for vacuum cleaners so the sooner these regulations are amended or scrapped the better.
Currently manufacturers not only have to show energy efficiency but also have to score their vacuum cleaners on how well they perform e.g. dirt pick up from carpets, hard floors and crevices, dust emissions and noise levels but did you know the better they perform in these areas, the harder the vacuum is to push and where as we use our hoovers to pick up fluff, hair and fibre the tests carried out require that a special type of sand be used.
The current labelling regulations bear very little use to the use of our vacuum cleaners in the real world. They also don’t help us to compare one machine against another.
Naturally anyone thinking of purchasing a vacuum cleaner is likely to buy one with an A rating yet there is no guarantee that the machine will meet the customer’s expectations and at present it is very hard for manufacturers to produce a vacuum cleaner that both performs well and achieves good ratings.
Now’s the opportunity for the government to kill the flawed EU label and come up with a well-conceived energy level that is actually useful and easily understood by customers, we’ll be watching and waiting to see if customers post-brexit are put first.
