The Appliance Rules The Trump Administration Is Trying To Kill, And What It Means For Your Kitchen

The Department of Energy wants to make it harder for the federal government to set new efficiency rules for household appliances —but it still has more work to do.

None of the 17 product standards the Department of Energy (DOE) proposed to rescind in 2025 has been finalized, Joanna Mauer, deputy director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP), told the Daily Caller News Foundation. The department also has not finalized the process rule it proposed in July, and public comment on a related DOE request ends Tuesday, according to its rulemaking page.

Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, introduced the Energy Efficiency Reform Act on Aug. 6 to write the changes into law and void two Biden-era gas appliance standards, the first of which takes effect Oct. 6. The bill has no cosponsors and no reported action since the Senate referred it to his committee that day, according to Congress.gov.

The committee has not yet scheduled a markup, a spokesperson told the DCNF.

The spokesperson for the committee said that the legislation would not roll back any existing efficiency standard. The bill has no House counterpart, though the House has moved several smaller bills with similar goals, the spokesperson said. Lee “welcomes support from any of his Democratic colleagues who agree that appliance standards should protect consumer choice,” the spokesperson said.

The bill text posted by the committee states that two 2023 final rules, setting standards for consumer furnaces and commercial water heating equipment, “shall be null and void” on the date of enactment. The text would also let the DOE issue a less stringent standard if it shows “clear and convincing evidence” the change is necessary for reasons including “to prevent the influx into the United States of foreign market competitors.”

The furnace rule requires compliance for products manufactured on or after Dec. 18, 2028. The bill would repeal both standards, Mauer told the DCNF. The furnace standards would save consumers about $50 a year on heating bills, Mauer said, citing a DOE estimate.

The Senate committee spokesperson said that although some may read those provisions as nullifying the two Biden-era rules, the committee considers them “deregulatory efforts to provide congressional clarity in place of further judicial decisions.” Both rules are tied up in a lawsuit that the Supreme Court sent back to a lower court in June, and the bill would settle those questions without waiting on the courts, the spokesperson said.

“The process rule and Senator Lee’s bill would both mean higher utility bills for consumers,” Mauer told the DCNF. “Blocking new standards, even as technology continues to improve, may benefit a utility that sells you more electricity or gas, but it’s costly for families.”