Biden Admin's New Regulations: A Threat to Consumer Freedom and Affordable Energy

The Biden administration is regulating natural gas in appliances a break-neck speed. First they went after gas stoves. Now they are set to impose stringent regulations on home gas-powered furnaces. This move has raised eyebrows and concerns over a potential narrowing of consumer options and an inevitable rise in expenses.

In a remarkable display of bureaucratic intervention, the Department of Energy (DOE), under the leadership of the Biden administration, proposed these restrictive regulations in June 2022.

They will adversely impact more than half of American households who rely on residential gas furnaces for their heating requirements. The regulations are imminent and will compromise affordability with meager impact on greenhouse gas emissions.

Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, shared his thoughts with Fox News Digital, “This is a classic example of one size not fitting all. Every home is different, every homeowner is different and people are best off having a wide range of choices. They can work with their contractor to make the best decision for their home and their circumstances.”

According to Lieberman, the “efficiency standard would effectively outlaw non-condensing furnaces and condensing alternatives would be the only ones available. Those are more efficient, but they cost more. And installation costs could be a big problem for some houses that are not compatible with condensing furnaces.”

If these proposed rules come into play, the DOE would demand furnaces to reach an annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE) of 95% by 2029. This condition means that manufacturers can only market furnaces that convert at least 95% of fuel into heat within the next six years, a considerable jump from the current market standard AFUE of 80% for a residential furnace.

As a result of this overreach, non-condensing gas furnaces, although less efficient but notably cheaper, would be virtually removed from the market.

This move creates a financial burden for consumers, who will have to bear hefty installation costs when replacing their non-condensing furnace with a condensing one post-implementation of the rule.

Do you agree with these proposed regulations on natural gas heating in homes?

Richard Meyer, the vice president of energy markets, analysis, and standards at the American Gas Association (AGA), raised serious questions. “There are some really technical reasons why this is such a concerning rule. It has to do with the ability for consumers to be in compliance with this new efficiency standard.”

He noted that these proposed regulations would demand homeowners install new equipment to exhaust gas out of their homes, an expensive ordeal for many.

“These higher efficiency units, or so-called condensing units — a lot of consumers have them in their home, but a lot of consumers don’t. So, this rule would require additional retrofits for a lot of consumers,” he said. “And those retrofits can be extremely cost prohibitive.”

The AGA, providing natural gas to over 74 million customers nationwide, firmly opposed the furnace rules in comments submitted to the DOE. The group advocates for a free market approach to naturally increase product efficiency, a measure that would genuinely serve consumers’ interests.

The alarming reality is that between 40-60% of the existing residential furnaces on the market will face prohibition under these proposed regulations.

Meyer added, “What we’re seeing across the U.S. federal government and reflected, of course, in many states right now is an active policy push intended to address climate change. But the outcome is to restrict the options and availability of the direct use of natural gas for consumers.”

He further emphasized AGA’s primary concerns: “One, removing that option, that choice, from consumers. Two, in many cases, natural gas remains the lowest cost and even lowest-emissions resource for many consumers. A lot of the policies we’re seeing that are designed to restrict natural gas may end up having a counterproductive result and could increase costs to consumers and could increase the emissions associated with the energy use by those consumers.”

The DOE announced last year that the efficiency standards could potentially save the average family about $100 per annum. It also boasted that these rules would cut carbon emissions by 373 million metric tons and methane emissions by 5.1 million tons. But, one might wonder, at what cost to the individual consumer?

Francis Dietz, a spokesperson for the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute which represents heating equipment manufacturers, pointed out that his organization’s members seek regulations that are reasonable.

“Our main goal in this is to have a rule that is reasonable enough so that there are still higher efficiency choices for consumers,” he shared. “So, you know, you would have one at a level low enough where it would be more affordable for consumers and others who felt they needed even more efficiency would still have some choices there. That’s really our main goal.”

Sadly, these rules appear amidst a flood of DOE rulemaking that targets appliance efficiency standards. Recently, the DOE rolled out new standards for various appliances including gas stoves, ovens, clothes washers, refrigerators, air conditioners, and dishwashers.

In December, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm proudly declared the administration had made 110 actions on energy efficiency standards in 2022 alone. She further lauded these regulations for boosting U.S. leadership in “the race towards a clean energy future.”

The current federal Unified Agenda reveals the Biden administration’s plan to advance rules impacting even more appliances, including pool pumps, battery chargers, ceiling fans, and dehumidifiers.

The DOE’s mission statement has energy efficiency and conservation as one of its five pillars. However, Democrats and environmentalists’ insistence that electrification, banning natural gas hookups, and implementing rigorous energy efficiency standards will expedite emissions reductions may not take into account the resulting burden on the average American.

The question remains: Do these regulations genuinely serve the people they purport to protect, or do they instead infringe upon their freedoms, choices, and financial stability? The true impact of such sweeping regulations on our day-to-day lives will be enormous and expensive.

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