Air conditioners and heat pumps
To be sold in New Zealand, air conditioners and heat pumps must meet minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) and labelling requirements.
If you're an importer, manufacturer, retailer or seller of an affected product, this page tells you what you need to know.
Which products are affected
Check out the scope and exclusions for air conditioners/heat pumps.
How to meet the regulatory requirements
If you import, manufacture or sell air conditioners or heat pumps affected by the MEPS, there are regulatory requirements you must meet under the Energy Efficiency (Energy Using Products) Regulations 2002.
For manufacturers and importers, this means checking your products meet the standards, registering your products, labelling your products, and providing annual sales data to EECA.
- Find out more about the steps for importers and manufacturers.
- Go straight to product registration on the energy rating website.
For retailers, this means ensuring that the products you're carrying are legal for sale.
- Find out more about steps for retailers.
Notes on labelling
Importers, manufacturers, retailers and people selling new appliances have obligations to ensure that energy rating labels are afixed or supplied when appliances are available for sale.
Single phase non-ducted air conditioners must display energy rating labels when available for sale (including "dummy fronts" for display purposes in retail outlets). Three-phase air conditioners and ducted single-phase units do not have to be labelled.
Which Standards apply
The energy performance standards for air conditioners and heat pumps are:
- AS/NZS 3823.1.1:1998 includes the scope and test method for non ducted air conditioners
- AS/NZS 3823.1.2:2001 includes the scope and test method for ducted air conditioners
- AS/NZS 3823.2:2009 covers MEPS and labelling requirements.
Standards are available from Standards New Zealand.
Revised MEPS and labelling from 9 June 2011
From 9 June 2011 air conditioners and heat pumps are required to meet revised minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) and labelling requirements described in the Standard AS/NZS 3823.2:2009.
The key changes, described in more detail below, are:
- Increased energy efficiency requirements.
- Revised star rating and MEPS calculations.
- New side-by-side energy rating labels.
The increased MEPS and labelling requirements will continue to encourage more efficient products onto the market and allow customers to identify efficient models.
Stock from before 1 June 2011
From 1 June 2011 all air conditioners and heat pumps imported or manufactured in New Zealand must meet the revised MEPS and labelling requirements. However old stock which was imported or manufactured in New Zealand before June 2011 can continue to be sold and does not have to be re-labelled.
Increased energy efficiency requirements
Under the revised requirements, air conditioners and heat pumps must meet minimum Annual Energy Efficiency Ratio (AEER) and Annual Coefficient of Performance (ACOP) levels as shown below. Where efficiency levels have increased on previous levels, the figures appear in bold.
The AEER and ACOP calculations must be declared on the products registration, including any stand-by, or "non-operative", power used. Stand-by is defined as "the average power consumption of the air conditioner when not providing a cooling or heating or air circulation function for the user".
AEER = (Tested cooling input x 2,000) / ( (Tested cooling effective power input x 2,000) + (Pnoc x 6.76) )
Where, Pnoc is the non-operating power (in Watts) in cooling mode.
ACOP = (Tested Heating input x 2,000) / ( (Tested heating effective power input x 2,000) + (Pnoh x 6.76) )
Where, Pnoh is the non-operating power (in Watts) in heating mode.
Revised MEPS levels
| Configuration | Phase | Rated cooling capacity (kW) |
Minimum EER |
Minimum EER and COP |
| 1 October 2007 | 9 June 2011 |
|||
| Non-ducted unitary (window/wall) | All | <10 | 2.75 | 2.84 |
| All | 10-19 | 2.75 | 2.75 | |
| Non-ducted split | All | <4 | 3.05 | 3.33 |
| All | 4-10 | 2.75 | 2.93 | |
| All | 10-19 | 2.75 | 2.75 | |
| Ducted | All | <19 | 2.50 | 2.75 |
| All configurations, all phases | 19-39 | 3.05 | 3.05 | |
| 39-65 | 2.75 | 2.75 | ||
Revised star rating calculations
Under the revised requirements, the AEER and ACOP are used to calculate the Star Rating Index (SRI) for the labels.
The SRI for cooling is calculated using the following equation.
SRI Cooling = [(AEER X 8) - 18] / 4
The SRI for heating is calculated using the following equation.
SRI Heating = [(ACOP X 8) - 18] / 4
The star rating (or number of stars on the energy rating label) is based on the SRI rounded down to the next/nearest ½ a star - i.e an SRI of 3.27 would have 3 stars on the label.
| AEER and ACOP | 2.75 | 3.00 | 3.25 | 3.50 | 3.75 | 4.00 | 4.25 | 4.50 | 4.75 | 5.00 | 5.25 |
| Star rating | 1 | 1.5 | 2 | 2.5 | 3 | 3.5 | 4 | 4.5 | 5 | 5.5 | 6 |
New side-by-side energy rating labels
Under the revised requirements, there is a new side-by-side energy rating labels. Manufacturers and importers should also note that once revised MEPS are in place, existing stock registered to the older standard may be sold showing the older label. However, new units imported or manufactured from 9 June 2011 must meet the new MEPS and labelling requirements.
New side-by-side air conditioner and heat pump energy rating label
Because many products are sold both in Australia and New Zealand, consumers may find that both the old and new labels are appearing on products for sale.
Download a fact sheet on the new energy rating label.
ENERGY STAR® for heat pumps
EECA has introduced the ENERGY STAR mark on whiteware and other home appliances - including heat pumps. This voluntary, international endorsement mark enables consumers to identify which models are the most energy efficient.
Because some heat pumps struggle to work effectively when the weather is very cold, winter performance of heat pumps has recently been included in the ENERGY STAR requirements. This means that a heat pump has been tested and works well at 2ºC.
Find out more about ENERGY STAR Partners and product listings.
Heat pump installation guide
EECA, in conjunction with BRANZ and with input from industry, has developed a good practice guide to installing heat pumps, aimed at experienced installers of heat pumps. Good design and installation are fundamental to a heat pump system's effectiveness and efficiency.
Find out more about the good practice guide to heat pump installation.
