Free Star Rating Calculator

BEE, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, rates appliances from 1 to 5 stars. More stars mean less electricity for the same job. A 5 star appliance is the most efficient you can buy and a 1 star is the least. The label also prints the rated units the appliance uses in a year, which is what this calculator is built on.

Yes. A 5 star AC uses roughly 20 to 25 percent less electricity than a 3 star of the same size for the same cooling. For a typical 1.5 ton split run about 8 hours a day in the season, that is around 250 units a year, close to 2,000 rupees at 8 rupees a unit. The more hours you run it, the bigger the gap, which is why the tool lets you set your own hours.

A fridge runs every hour of the year, so even a small per-hour saving adds up. On a common 250 to 350 litre model, moving from 3 star to 5 star saves in the region of 60 to 80 units a year, roughly 500 to 650 rupees at 8 rupees a unit, and it keeps saving that for the fridge’s whole life.

It depends on how much you use it and how big the price gap is. For appliances that run for hours a day, an AC, fridge or ceiling fan, the electricity saving usually pays back the extra price in two to four years, then keeps saving for years after. For lightly used appliances the payback is slower. Enter the price gap in the tool and it tells you the payback for your own case.

ISEER stands for Indian Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio. It is the cooling an AC delivers across a season divided by the electricity it draws, so a higher ISEER means a more efficient unit. BEE sets ISEER bands for each star level and rates the AC on 1,600 hours of use a year. A 5 star split sits at the top of the bands and a 3 star in the middle.

A lot, per rupee spent. An old unrated fan draws about 70 to 80 watts, while a 5 star BLDC fan draws around 28 to 35 watts for the same air. Moving a 3 star to a 5 star, run about 12 hours a day, saves roughly 90 units a year per fan, close to 700 rupees at 8 rupees a unit. Against an old unrated fan the saving is far bigger, and with several fans in a home it is one of the easiest wins going.

Less than an AC or fridge, and here is why. Most of a geyser’s energy heats the water you actually use, and no star rating can change the physics of that. The stars cut the standing loss, the heat that leaks from a full, idle tank, through thicker insulation. So a 5 star geyser saves a real but smaller amount, more if you leave it switched on for long stretches.

BEE tests each appliance under a standard usage pattern and prints the units it would use in a year. For ACs that pattern is about 1,600 hours of cooling a year. For a fridge it is continuous running. Your real use will differ, so this calculator starts from those reference figures and then scales them to the hours, days and number of units you tell it.

BEE tightens the bands over time as technology improves, so the same appliance can lose a star at a revision without changing at all. A model that was 5 star a few years ago might be sold as 3 star today. It is worth checking the year on the label, and comparing the printed units rather than stars alone when you look at older and newer models side by side.

Look for three things. The stars, from 1 to 5, for efficiency at a glance. The rated annual energy consumption in units, which is the most useful number for comparing models. And the year of the rating, since the bands change. For ACs the label also shows the ISEER value. Comparing the units figure between two models tells you the real running-cost difference.

The ones that run the longest and move the most heat. Air conditioners top the list, then ceiling fans that run all day, then refrigerators, which run every hour of the year. Televisions and water heaters save less in absolute terms, and a geyser’s saving comes only from insulation, not the heat you draw. You can check each of these in the tool above.

No. Star ratings measure efficiency, not output. A 5 star 1.5 ton AC cools exactly as much as a 3 star 1.5 ton AC. It simply uses less electricity to do it, usually through a better compressor, heat exchanger and, on ACs, inverter control. You get the same result for a smaller bill.

It defaults to 8 rupees a unit, close to the higher slab most homes running these appliances fall into, and you can change it to your own tariff. Since a unit saved comes off the top of your bill, using that higher slab rate is the right way to value it. For CO2 it uses about 0.71 kg per unit, the national grid average from the Central Electricity Authority. Both feed the money and CO2 savings, so setting your real rate makes the figure accurate for you.

It gives a solid, honest estimate. The per-star figures are representative annual numbers for common sizes, cross-checked across BEE guidance and manufacturer data, then scaled to your usage. Real models vary, and things like room heat, water temperature and settings all play a part. For an exact figure, compare the units printed on the specific labels of the two models you are choosing between.

Yes on both. It is free, there is no sign-up, and it runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere or saved, so your numbers stay on your own device.