On January 6, APGA submitted additional comments in response to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (SNOPR) for residential furnaces. The SNOPR would establish a residential furnace nationwide mandate of 92 annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE) with a small furnace exemption for furnaces of 55,000 Btu or less. Furnaces under the small furnace exemption would be allowed to be non-condensing; while all furnaces above that threshold would have to be condensing. Because of the difference in combustion technology, condensing furnaces have additional venting requirements associated that add significant dollars to the cost of installation.
APGA has maintained that the additional venting requirements associated with replacing a non-condensing natural gas furnace with a condensing furnace will push many residential customers—particularly those in warmer climates—to purchase and install less efficient home heating alternatives with potentially higher greenhouse gas emissions and higher monthly utility bills. Comments were originally due on November 22, 2016; as such, APGA submitted extensive and substantive comments earlier that day. However, at approximately 5:00 p.m. EST on November 22, DOE extended the comment period on the SNOPR to January 6, 2017. APGA’s comments communicate our frustration with DOE’s actions related to the last-minute extension, hich is similar to the extension that DOE provided in the Notice of Data Availability comment period. The comments further state that the extension DOE provided “is only meaningful if it is issued well before the comment due date so that the affected parties can use the additional allotted time efficiently to maximize their available resources.” APGA’s comments also communicate that DOE “obviously knew well before the November 22 comment deadline that it would extend the date, as such decisions are not made on the spur of the moment.”
A copy of APGA’s comments, as well as those submitted on November 22, is available on the APGA website at www.apga.org. There is a requirement that established a 45-day review period after a final rule is completed and published on the DOE website for parties to review and note any technical errors. Until the expiration of that period, the rule cannot be posted in the Federal Register, which is the action that makes regulations final and effective. This pushes any potential next steps on the furnace SNOPR to the Trump Administration, which takes office on January 20.
For questions on this article or on APGA’s regulatory advocacy efforts, please contact Dave Schryver of APGA staff by phone at 202-464-2742 or by email at dschryver@apga.org.