Blogs

On February 27, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Rep. Gary Palmer’s (AL-06) Resolution of Disapproval to block the Final Rule Pertaining to Gas-Fired Instantaneous Water Heaters (GIWH). The Final Rule, if implemented, would set minimum efficiency standards that would effectively ban a class of efficient and affordable consumer water heaters. These are appliances that public gas utilities’ customers rely on to meet their unique needs.

A bipartisan group of 221 members of the House voted in favor of the Resolution with 198 voting “No,” 2 voting “Present,” and twelve members not voting (221-198-2). To see how your delegation voted, click here.

The U.S. Senate must now take up and pass the Resolution in order to ultimately send it to the President’s desk for final approval. Sen. Ted Cruz’s (TX) S.J. Res. 4 will likely receive a Floor vote within the next two weeks.

Thank you to the many APGA member utilities who shared their support for this effort with their Representatives in the House. This outcome is a direct result of outreach from stakeholders who value consumer choice and practical energy conservation standards.

For questions on this article, please contact Joshua St.Pierre of APGA staff by phone at 202-407-0015 or by email at jstpierre@apga.org.