AGA Files Reply Brief in Appliance Lawsuit 

WASHINGTON – The American Gas Association (AGA), along with its allies, filed a reply brief in the ongoing lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) appliance standards, including the efficiency rules for furnaces and commercial water heaters. DOE’s actions impermissibly ban various natural gas products from the market and AGA, American Public Gas Association (APGA), National Propane Gas Association (NPGA), Thermo Products and Spire have asked the court to vacate the rules. 

“The law is clear – DOE is explicitly forbidden to set a standard that eliminates an entire class of appliances from the market. Despite this, the Department’s new rules would remove efficient appliance options from consumers, raising costs for those who can least afford it including senior citizens and low-income households,” said AGA President and CEO Karen Harbert. “Energy efficiency is a top priority for the American Gas Association and the natural gas industry, but issuing a flawed rule is not the way to advance our energy efficiency goals. Natural gas utilities collectively spent almost $1.6 billion on energy efficiency programs in 2020, saving 1.7 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of driving 4.6 billion miles. These programs help consumers adopt more efficient equipment, including gas furnaces and water heaters.” 

The Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) directly prohibits amended standards that are likely to eliminate generally available “performance characteristics” from the market, including design-and installation-related features. EPCA was intended to protect consumers from undue harm, however DOE’s final rules fail to adhere to this provision. In DOE’s latest filing, the agency conceded these final rules would eliminate appliances from the market and result in “difficult” renovations to retrofit or restructure existing homes and buildings to accommodate condensing instead of noncondensing appliances. In the case of DOE’s final furnace rule, 55% of U.S. households would be affected according to AGA analysis based on DOE’s data. 

“Noncondensing appliances benefit consumers because they perform in their existing buildings without renovation. That performance characteristic is protected from elimination by the plain text of EPCA,” reads the reply brief.  Therefore, the court should vacate the December 2021 Interpretive Rule, Consumer Furnace Rule, and Commercial Water Heater Rule.  

Read AGA’s full reply brief here. 

Learn more about AGA’s lawsuit against DOE’s appliance rules here.