HARDI announced that a settlement has been reached in the lawsuit regarding Regional Efficiency Standards for residential gas furnaces and central air-conditioners finalized by the Department of Energy (DOE) in Oct. 2011. The settlement, which will take effect upon judicial approval, would remand the efficiency standards for gas furnaces, forcing the DOE to begin the process for assessing efficiency standards anew and to do so in a more transparent manner. The increase and regionalization in the standards for central air-conditioners will remain, but the DOE has allowed for a sell through period of 18-months and agreed not to penalize HVACR distributors as part of the enforcement of the Regional Standard. Additionally, the DOE has agreed to engage in a process to review the regulatory processes that established the Regional Efficiency Standards.
According to HARDI, the settlement signifies a victory for HVACR distributors, who intervened in the lawsuit challenging the standards, citing DOE’s abuse of process in utilizing a regulatory procedure which ignored the input of distributors and other stakeholders.