This whole article reminds me of the absolute nonsense surrounding the EU regulating vacuum cleaner power levels. In the UK, it was not uncommon to see vacuum cleaners rated as high as 2400w (!) prior to the introduction of the regulation. Of course, when the regulation came to power those rock bottom crappy cheap vacuums one could buy suddenly got much worse as they were forced to limit power usage to 1kW. Well, as far as I can tell, most any vacuum cleaner today at virtually any price range does a reasonably decent job on 800w or less, and the regulation was a huge success in preventing ludicrous inefficient designs from finding their way to market.

I bring this up because this was actually a talking point during Brexit, and the excitement that Finally! Brits would be able to buy good vacuum cleaners again now they'd left that pesky EU. I've got no idea of the status of that particular regulation today, but I know that I haven't heard a single person mention it since the days of the Brexit vote.

Power ratings don't correspond to performance if the world irrationally decides that higher power means better. If the low end landlord special dishwashers can't make do on 1500w, then perhaps they just shouldn't exist. My landlord special cheapo dishwasher here in Canada however does a completely fine job using the cheapest powder I can get at the supermarket, as long as I load it properly, and haven't absolutely burnt the shit out of something in a pan.