DOE lowers estimated consumer savings from gas stove rule, sparking criticism

The Biden administration has lowered its estimate for how much consumers will save under its gas stove energy efficiency rule by 30%, sparking criticism from industry voices who say the net benefits do not justify the changes.

The Department of Energy filed the revision earlier this week as part of its “Energy Policy and Conservation Program,” or the proposed rulemaking that would allow it to set new efficiency standards for consumer conventional cooking products, including gas stoves.

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Originally, the DOE estimated the rule, which would make roughly half of current U.S. stove models ineligible for purchase in stores if it were to take force today, would save U.S. consumers up to $1.7 billion in costs.

Now, it says consumer savings would be about 9 cents per month, or a 30% reduction from its original estimate.

The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, or AHAM, asked the DOE to reconsider its proposed rulemaking in light of the revision, saying in a statement on Thursday that the “extremely stringent standard” it has proposed would force consumers to lose important features and access to many gas stove models on the market, in exchange for saving only “pennies” each month.

“The newly released DOE analysis revises downward the potential energy savings from its original cooking product rulemaking proposal, showing that the savings are even less than DOE originally projected and are almost negligible,” the group said.

“The changes in energy savings projected by DOE primarily result from DOE recognizing that the currently available cooking products are more efficient than its earlier analysis assumed,” it added.

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The DOE’s proposed efficiency regulation has sparked ire from congressional Republicans, who argued at a hearing earlier this summer that the effort to regulate kitchen appliances is a violation of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, the federal program that directed the DOE in 1979 to establish energy conservation standards for consumer products.

And earlier this year, Republicans introduced the “Save Our Gas Stoves Act,” a bill to prohibit the DOE from implementing any gas stove ban or restriction at the federal level.