Check labels properly before buying electrical appliances, SON urges Nigerians

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria has urged consumers to check energy labels on electrical appliances before purchasing them, saying energy-efficient products could cost less to operate over time despite having higher initial prices.

The Director-General of SON, Ifeanyi Okeke, said the agency’s Mandatory Energy Labelling Scheme and Minimum Energy Performance Standards, known as SONMEL, was designed to provide consumers with reliable information about the energy performance of appliances and help them make informed purchasing decisions.

Okeke spoke on Saturday in Abuja at the 2026 World Standards Day celebration, themed “Standards: Vision for a Better World, Spotlight on SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy.”

He explained that consumers who choose appliances based only on their purchase prices risk spending more on electricity over the products’ useful lives.

“When you buy an item, usually an electrical or electronic item, they have different energy levels. You can buy some; let me use a typical example: the old bulbs we had in the past. When you buy that bulb, it seems to be cheaper, but it consumes more,” he said.

“So, at the onset, you have a cheap bulb, but over a period of time it consumes more. What the SONMEL will do for you is to provide information that will indicate that this product you are buying, if it is electrical or electronic, this is what the energy should be. It is either high or low. So, we are providing that information to enable consumers’ decision-making.”

The scheme is intended to help buyers compare the energy performance of appliances before making purchasing decisions, particularly as households and businesses seek to manage electricity costs.

Okeke said a product with a higher upfront price could prove more economical if it consumed less energy during use.

“So, if you are going to buy something expensive, you know that over a period of time, the utilisation, the cost to you will be less,” he said.

The SON chief acknowledged that some manufacturers might be reluctant to adopt energy-efficient technologies because of the investments required to replace existing production systems.

He said the transition could involve spending on equipment, staff training, research and development, and other resources, but maintained that manufacturers needed to embrace more efficient production methods.

“I think the reasons why companies are not easily willing to transition to energy-efficient products are because of the technology. Because you now need to move from the existing technology you have to the new technology,” he said.

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“And when you do that, it has a lot of cost outlay. Resources will be involved. It also involves training, research and development, and investments that will cost you so much.”

He, however, argued that producing energy-efficient goods did not necessarily mean manufacturers would incur higher production costs in the long term.

“Because I believe that it doesn’t even cost you more to produce efficient products. It doesn’t cost you more as a producer. It’s just the decision to move or transition from the old technology you have built over the years to the new one,” Okeke said.

He said the labelling initiative reflected SON’s responsibility to protect consumers and equip them with information to identify products that meet the required standards.

Okeke also urged marketers, traders and business owners to prioritise quality by stocking and selling products bearing appropriate SON certification marks.

“The SON certification logos are a symbol of quality, safety, and conformity with approved standards. I therefore encourage you to make it a point of duty to buy, stock, and sell only products that carry appropriate SON certification logos,” he said.

He said SON was also working to make its certification marks easier for consumers to recognise and had introduced digital services to improve access to standards and product authentication.

As part of the celebration, the President of the Female Farmers Apex Cooperative Society, Dr Maimuna Habib, called for greater access to affordable clean-energy technologies for women in agriculture, livestock production and market trading.

Habib, a veterinarian and former Chief Veterinary Officer of Nigeria, said reliable energy could help women farmers reduce post-harvest losses, preserve food quality, improve productivity and increase their earnings.

She said the theme was particularly relevant to women who need refrigeration and energy for processing and storing agricultural products.

“Solar-powered refrigeration, clean energy for agro-processing, and reliable renewable energy systems can help women reduce losses, preserve food quality, improve productivity, and increase their incomes,” she said.