Headlines this week claimed that “Heading Out the Door, Biden Seeks to Ban 40 Percent of Water Heaters.” It is highly unlikely that President Biden is even aware of the last regulation published by his Department of Energy (DOE). Though he supported their green agenda over the past four years, most details have been left to his appointees at DOE and their environmental industry allies.

This last rule was pushed out during the holidays, another federal rule restricting another of the most common household appliances, hot water heaters. Almost half of the water heaters in America are powered by clean-burning natural gas, and tankless water heaters are becoming increasingly popular, the trend in new home construction because they save so much space. The new rule zeroes in on those, ratcheting up “energy efficiency” standards to a level such water heaters do not meet. The result would be, beginning with sales in 2029, a ban on gas tankless water heaters. Despite the White House’s denial, that would eventually phase out existing water heaters, too, as they inevitably wear out and need replacement. New electric tankless models are estimated to cost $450 more, and that’s on top of the $2,800 increase in water heater prices caused by other already-implemented DOE rules.   

Confronted by angry consumer groups, DOE referred to the proposal as “long-awaited standards,” because Congress required appliance standards to be reviewed every six years. That does not mean, of course, that Congress authorized or directed the department to ban stoves, furnaces, water heaters, or other gas appliances. Even DOE acknowledges that it has no such statutory authority, so it relies on a consent decree it signed as part of a lawsuit settlement with a friendly environmental group.

That has become an all-too-common work-around when agencies want to implement rules without legal authority, such as DOE regulating the amount of gas, electricity, and water that appliances can use. Courts are increasingly hostile to such assertions of authority where Congress did not explicitly grant it. Last year the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that DOE has no authority to regulate water use by dishwashers and washing machines, and it is likely this latest rule will face similar scrutiny if left standing.

The White House has tried to claim consumers will ultimately save on heating bills because of the new rule, though the obvious goal is to reduce CO2 emissions, not save money. The higher up-front cost of new electric water heaters is very real, though. And it is just the latest – and hopefully last – example of appliance regulations that drive up consumer costs.

The Alliance for Consumers now estimates that such appliance regulations promulgated during Biden’s term have increased the cost of items the average family needs by $9,166. That includes new standards that drove up furnace prices by $494, washing machines by $200, air conditioners by $1,100, dishwashers by $225, and stoves anywhere from $800 to $3,200. Even the cost of ceiling fans and light bulbs has been pushed up by regulations. 

The good news is that these new rules will likely be rolled back by the new Administration. There is reason to expect that, because the earlier Trump Administration moved to roll back Obama-era appliance standards, too. That began with getting DOE to create a new category of dishwashers and washing machines that completed their cycle in less than an hour – like all machines once did before there were DOE “efficiency” standards. Trump’s DOE leaders called that new category, to which they applied different efficiency standards, a “recognition of cycle time as a valuable consumer utility.” That led to the Fifth Circuit ruling that DOE had no authority to limit the use of water by those appliances.

Trump’s incoming Secretary of Energy, Colorado’s Chris Wright, is expected once again to roll back these new rules, though at least some economic damage will have been done. Biden himself continues to pledge that the government will pursue its climate commitments, though he clearly does not fully understand the relationship between hot water heaters and climate, if indeed there is any relationship.

That may be the real tragedy of DOE’s attempts to ban everyday appliances – its overreaching and sometimes illegal efforts are part of the bad feeling left in the wake of Biden’s nanny state buttinsky-ism. He may not understand why Americans are so tired of government intrusion in every aspect of their lives. But it is his reputation that will suffer, not the DOE bureaucrats whose names the public doesn’t even know.

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