Minimum energy performance standards Singapore: tick floors

In Singapore, NEA’s minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) have, since 1 April 2025, set the lowest permitted rating for supply or import at 4 ticks for a single-split air-conditioner, 5 ticks for a multi-split air-conditioner, 3 ticks for a refrigerator and 1 tick for a water heater. Non-8K televisions have had a 4-tick floor since 1 April 2024 and clothes dryers a 2-tick floor since 1 January 2022, according to NEA’s overview of the labelling scheme and the standards.

For a shopper, the usable part of the 1-to-5 tick scale is therefore narrower than the label suggests. Among models that meet the standards, a single-split air-con is a choice between 4 and 5 ticks, and a refrigerator a choice between 3 and 4.

Every figure below is from NEA pages opened on 3 October and again on 17 October 2026, unless a section says it is our own arithmetic.

What is the lowest tick rating for each appliance?

NEA’s overview page gives the dates, its minimum standards page the thresholds and its tick rating page the bands. The floors on 17 October 2026 are:

• Single-split air-conditioner: 4-tick since 1 April 2025: a coefficient of performance (COP) of 4.86 or more in NEA’s tick table (weighted COP for inverter models; the minimum standards page writes “above 4.86”) and standby power of 18 W or less.
• Multi-split air-conditioner: 5-tick since 1 April 2025: a COP of 5.50 or more in the tick table (the standards page writes “above 5.50”) and standby power of no more than 7 W × N, where N is the number of indoor and outdoor units.
• Casement or window air-conditioner (up to 8.8 kW): 2-tick since 1 January 2022.
• Portable air-conditioner (single exhaust duct, up to 12 kW): minimum standards since 1 April 2024, a COP of 3.0 or more. That is the bottom of NEA’s 1-tick band (3.0 to under 3.25), so the floor is in effect 1 tick. The tick level is our inference: NEA’s overview gives the date but names no tick level for portable units.
• Refrigerator: 3-tick since 1 April 2025, up from 2-tick on 1 January 2022. NEA’s tick table now shows only 3-tick and 4-tick bands.
• Television: 4-tick for non-8K models since 1 April 2024; 3-tick for 8K models since 1 April 2025. Passive standby power must be 0.50 W or less.
• Clothes dryer (rated capacity up to 10 kg): 2-tick since 1 January 2022.
• Water heater (storage, instantaneous and heat pump, within NEA’s rated-power and tank limits): 1-tick since 1 April 2025.

Lamps, three-phase VRF air-conditioners, induction motors and commercial storage refrigerators have their own minimums on NEA’s page; this guide does not cover them.

What is the minimum tick rating for an air-conditioner in Singapore?

It depends on the type: 4 ticks for single-split, 5 for multi-split, 2 for casement and window units and, by our inference, 1 for portable units. Before 1 April 2025 the split-type floor had been the “2-tick level”, according to NEA’s overview.

For a single-split unit the real decision is between 4 and 5 ticks. In NEA’s tick table, 4-tick needs a COP of at least 4.86 and standby power of 18 W or less; 5-tick needs at least 5.50 and 4 W or less. Two pieces of arithmetic, ours rather than NEA’s, show how big the gap can be:

• Cooling: COP is cooling output divided by electricity input, so a unit exactly at the 5-tick threshold would use about 12 per cent less electricity for the same cooling than one exactly at the 4-tick threshold (4.86 ÷ 5.50 = 0.88, on rated figures). Real models sit anywhere in their band, and the 5-tick band has no upper limit.
• Standby: if one unit drew exactly 18 W and the other exactly 4 W, the 14 W gap over the 16 standby hours a day that NEA’s energy label page assumes is about 82 kWh a year (14 × 16 × 365 ÷ 1,000), or about S$22 at the label’s 27 cents per kWh.

Neither number replaces the kWh printed on each label. Compare the two models you are actually considering, rescale for your own hours as our energy label guide explains, then set the saving against the price gap. Size comes first: the air conditioner size guide covers the kW your room needs. If the 5-tick model might qualify for a voucher, read our Climate Vouchers guide first.

What is the energy standard for a TV in Singapore?

NEA limits a television’s on-mode power, the power drawn while it produces sound and picture. For a non-8K model the limit is 0.30 × (20 + 4.3224 × A) watts, where A is the screen area in square decimetres. For an 8K model it is 0.42 × (20 + 4.3224 × A).

A worked example, illustrative and using our arithmetic with a 16:9 aspect ratio assumed:

1. A 55-inch screen is 139.7 cm on the diagonal. At 16:9 that is about 121.8 cm wide and 68.5 cm high, an area of about 8,339 cm², or 83.4 dm².
2. 20 + 4.3224 × 83.4 = about 380.5.
3. The non-8K limit is 0.30 × 380.5 = about 114 W. That is the 4-tick limit, and so the floor.
4. A 5-tick set must draw 0.16 × 380.5 = about 61 W or less. An 8K set may draw up to 0.42 × 380.5 = about 160 W.

The NEA pages we read do not say how screen area is measured, so a manufacturer’s figure can differ from this estimate. In a shop you do not need the formula: a non-8K television showing 4 or 5 ticks already meets the on-mode power floor, and the 0.50 W passive standby limit is a separate requirement. The formula only shows what a tick means in watts.

What is the lowest rating for a fridge, dryer or water heater?

Refrigerators: 3-tick since 1 April 2025. The earlier step, to 2-tick on 1 January 2022, was set out in NEA’s announcement of 8 June 2021. NEA writes the floor as a maximum annual energy consumption that depends on adjusted volume, which NEA defines on a separate page we did not read, so rely on the label’s ticks and kWh. For a model with a freezer, the 4-tick band needs annual consumption at or below a factor of 0.228 against 0.312 at the 3-tick floor, about 27 per cent lower for the same adjusted volume (our arithmetic: 0.228 ÷ 0.312 = 0.73).

Clothes dryers: 2-tick, meaning no more than 0.55 kWh per wash for each kilogram of rated capacity (for dryers up to 10 kg). For an illustrative 8 kg dryer, our arithmetic gives at most 4.4 kWh a wash at the floor (8 × 0.55), against 2.4 kWh (8 × 0.30) at the 5-tick limit.

Water heaters: 1-tick, a uniform energy factor (UEF) of 0.40 or more; 5-tick needs above 1.00. In its joint release with the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment of 4 March 2024, NEA said consumers can save up to S$115 a year by switching from a 1-tick to a 5-tick water heater, based on an electricity tariff of S$0.27 per kWh. That is a 2024 estimate at that tariff, not a current one. Our water heater guide covers the label in more detail.

Can shops still sell appliances below the floor, and what about imports?

NEA says that under Part III Division 1 of the Energy Conservation Act a person must not supply or import regulated goods, on or after the effective date of the requirements, unless the goods comply. Suppliers must register with NEA and register each product before supplying it.

NEA’s overview and standards pages do not say how long units supplied before a change may stay on sale, or how the rules treat second-hand units, so this guide makes no claim about clearance stock or used appliances. NEA’s consumer advisory is plain on the buyer’s side: buy only NEA-registered appliances listed in its Database of Registered Goods, and report regulated goods with no energy label, or not registered, to nea_energylabel@nea.gov.sg. NEA’s enquiry lines are 6731-9952 and 6731-9739.

If you import an appliance yourself, NEA says that from 1 July 2026 you must register with NEA before importing it and should first make sure it meets the minimum standards, so the floors above are the ones to check an overseas order against. The 1 July 2026 date is also on our calendar of consumer rule changes. Our energy label guide covers that change and the online-listing rules; our GST guide for overseas online purchases covers the tax side of an overseas order, and the year-end sales price check shows how to compare the final payable total.

What to check before you buy

1. Find the energy label for the exact model, in the shop or the online listing, and note its ticks and kWh.
2. Compare the ticks with the floor in the list above. If a unit shows fewer, ask the seller how it complies before you pay. For slogans such as “energy-saving”, our eco-friendly claims guide has questions to ask.
3. For an air-conditioner, compare 4 and 5 ticks on kWh and on the price gap, not on ticks alone.
4. Look the model up in NEA’s Database of Registered Goods, and tell NEA if a listing has no label or the model is not registered.
5. Reopen NEA’s minimum standards page before a large purchase; the copy checked here was last updated on 7 August 2026.

For running costs, the appliance running cost calculator turns a label’s kWh, or an appliance’s watts and hours, into S$ at a rate you enter; it is arithmetic, not an official figure. For the wider topic, see comparing before you buy.

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