Compare BEE Star Rated Ceiling Fans and Un-starred fans for electricity savings

Published on Sunday, 01 July 2012 12:43

Written by Abhishek Jain

Ceiling Fans along with Refrigerators are most used appliances in Indian household. Being a tropical country, India is quite heavily dependent on ceiling fans for thermal comfort, and thus efficiency of ceiling fans is very important. Keeping this in mind BEE (Bureau of Energy Efficiency) started a star-rating program for Ceiling Fans in 2009. The program has started with labeling of one of the most commonly sold category of fans that is of 1200 mm sweep (circumference). The program is not mandatory for all fans currently and thus only few models available in the market are rated.

How are Ceiling Fans Rated?

Ceiling Fans have 2 important technical quantitative factors that are important for an individual while buying a fan: 1) Power Consumption 2) Air Delivery. While buying a fan, one should make sure that the power consumption is low and air delivery is high. Keeping these 2 factors in mind BEE came up with a concept of service value that is a ratio (division) of air delivery and power consumption:

                        Service value = Minimum Air Delivery / Power Consumption

Every manufacturer provides these values for ceiling fans and higher the Service Value, better is the ceiling fan because it will deliver more air for less power.  As per the current requirements of BEE a fan that is rated should deliver minimum 210 cu m/min of air. The service values for various ratings are:

Concerns people have with Star Rated Fans

We have heard a lot of complaints from people that star rated fans deliver less air. Although the concern is valid for some fans, but not all fans have low air delivery value. So before making a purchase make sure that you check and compare minimum air delivery value of the fans. You can use the tool below to make comparison.

Comparison Tool

We have tried our best to collect information of star rated and un-rated fans along with information of fans with various sweep values. You can use this to compare yearly electricity cost (based on your consumption) and to compare the minimum air delivery value for various fans. We will keep updating the list as we get more information about various other fans. The base of this calculator is our electricity bill calculator available on article: Online Electricity Bill Calculator – For all states in India. Please do read the instructions below on how to use the tool.

Steps to use the tool:

• Click on the tab to select comparison of Fans or to check electricity cost of your current fan. Please confirm the right tab before submitting the form.
• Select the fans you want to compare. Click the link on “Fans List” to get the list of fans to compare. Follow the instructions on the page that appears to make selection. Click “Save” to save your selection. Click on “Change Selection” to make changes to your selected options.
• Select your utility or electricity provider. Select your state, district and utility and the system saves your information for the user session automatically. If you have already selected it earlier then the system saves your preference.
• While comparing if you are looking to change your existing fan, select “yes” in the next option. On selecting “yes” you will be asked for details on your existing fan.
• While calculating electricity bill amount for your existing fan if you do not find your fan in the list, select “yes” in the next option. On selecting “yes” you will be asked for details on your existing fan.
• Please enter information related to your consumption of ceiling fan. This helps us estimate the time for which you use your ceiling fan and also speed at which you run it.
• Please provide the type of regulator you use. For more details on regulators see our article on ceiling fan regulators: Choose the right Regulator for Ceiling Fan for Electricity Saving
• Provide the minimum and maximum electricity bill amounts that you get in a year. You can put an approximate number for this input.
• Select Phase: select if you have a three phase connection or single phase connection.
• Enter connected load: This information is available on your electricity bills. For more details on connected load see our article: Impact of Load on Fixed Charges in Electricity Bills

The calculator will help you:

• Understand monthly and yearly unit consumption of fans selected.
• Understand monthly and yearly electricity cost of using the fans selected.
• The tool provides approximate value and it should not be taken as actual amounts. Actual numbers will depend on usage of the fan.
• For unknown fans the tool provides the most pessimistic amounts based on the inputs provided.

The tool uses the latest tariff data available for various distribution companies (DISCOMs) in all the states of the country: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, New Delhi , Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, Tripura and West Bengal.

The tools has listing for following brands:

Havells, Khaitan, Anchor, Polar, Usha, Crompton Greaves, Cinni, Orient, Bajaj, Surya, Toofan and various other brands.

Source of Information: Bureau of Energy Efficiency website and manufacturers' websites.

For any feedback/questions on the tool you can email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.