Stakeholders square off over proposed DOE appliance program changes

The Trump administration's Department of Energy has proposed changes to how it sets and updates energy efficiency standards for home appliances, with the stated goal of "permanently ending" appliance efficiency mandates. The proposal would define a threshold for what counts as "significant energy savings" needed before DOE finalizes a new standard, and would require a 10% savings minimum. It would also make the agency's internal "process rule," which governs how standards get written, a binding requirement rather than just guidance. The public comment period on the proposal closed August 21.

Appliance manufacturers, including the National Electrical Manufacturers Association and the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, largely support the changes, saying a binding process rule creates more predictability for building products. But they asked that any rollback of existing rules not apply retroactively to standards already finalized, since they've built manufacturing and certification plans around current timelines.

Efficiency advocates, including the Appliance Standards Awareness Project and Consumer Federation of America, oppose the fixed savings threshold, arguing it would block smaller improvements that add up over time, and object to making the process rule binding only for new regulations while leaving deregulatory moves unrestricted.

For homeowners, this fight is about the government's future ability to raise minimum efficiency requirements for appliances like washers, water heaters, and other equipment. No changes have taken effect yet, and nothing here changes standards on appliances already for sale or in your home.