Exclusive: GOP lawmaker looks to preempt Democrats’ next war on appliances

Republican Georgia Rep. Rick Allen introduced legislation Wednesday that would effectively block future Democratic administrations from enforcing draconian rules for appliances that limit consumer choice.

The Don’t Mess With My Home Appliances Act would amend existing laws to prevent future administrations from using the Department of Energy (DOE) to enact appliance efficiency standards that limit consumer choice. The Biden administration enforced harsh efficiency regulations on a bevy of everyday appliances, and Allen says that his bill is meant to prevent future Democrat administrations from enacting similar rules that hurt ordinary Americans in order to benefit the green agenda.

“Under the guise of energy efficiency, the Biden-Harris Administration waged a four-year war on domestic energy and consumer choice, and it was American families that paid the price,” Allen said. “From gas stoves, refrigerators, and freezers, to washers, dryers, dish washers, and air conditioners — no household appliance was off limits in their pursuit of a radical rush-to-green agenda. We cannot allow that to happen again.”

Dont Mess With My Home Appliances Act by audreystreb on Scribd

The Biden DOE enacted several strict rules on appliances, targeting water heaters, gas-powered portable generators, furnaces and pool pump motors, among others. Many of these rules favored more efficient, and often more expensive, appliances while having the effect of pushing less efficient, often more affordable models out of the market over time.

The Alliance for Consumers conducted an analysis of appliance costs under the Biden administration’s regulations in 2023 and found that the average American household would have faced as much as $9,000 in added expenses had the rules been implemented in full.

Allen’s bill would amend the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA), which requires the DOE to make appliance rules under specific parameters. The amendments Allen’s legislation proposes would block future Democrat administrations from banning certain appliances based on the type of fuel they use and ensure that proposals for new standards consider the impact of consumer costs.

Additionally, the bill would keep the current efficiency standard for electrical transformers and block future standard changes.

Allen’s proposed legislation states that the energy secretary could move to change or terminate an appliance standard if it adds costs to consumers, fails to significantly conserve water or energy, is not “technologically feasible” or would phase out a particular product on the U.S. market.

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