When buying a dishwasher, this site has recommended only to buy 'A' rated appliances in the energy efficiency charts. This saves on bills as well as reducing your carbon footprint. However, recent research has shown that almost all dishwasher (and other kitchen appliances) are rated 'A' for energy efficiency.

The energy ratings were created back in 1997 and were designed to incorporate older models - dating back to the 1960's. When a modern dishwasher is compared to an older model, it's no wonder it gets an A rating.

The problem arises in differentiating the modern A rated appliances. Much the same as the academic trend of more and more students achieving the top grades - universities find it increasingly difficult to separate the straight A candidates from each other. The A* for GCSE was created for this purpose, and in much the same way the A+ and A++ have been created for dishwashers. This is useful, but there are still problems - the energy efficiency diagram showing A as the top rating may be more than a little misleading (the ratings are from A to G, so 1st out of a possible 7 looks good even if the reality is that a dishwasher does not compare favourably to other modern equivalents).

The other issues are that with technological, there will soon be the need for A+++ and A++++, and this trend can continue indefinitely. The A+ gradings are intended as a temporary measure, with A1, A2 A3 etc taking over, but this leads to even more confusion, and appliances rated just 'A' still appear as the top rated, even if they are way down the list. Clearly, it would be ridiculous if this is the case, so at some point a new scale is needed which can incorporate future developments. Other countries have already recalibrated to sort the situation out, and it would be a good idea for the UK to do the same.

But for the moment, dishwashershop recommends you stick to buying the top grade for energy savings, A++.