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The Department of Energy is loosening proposed energy-efficiency regulations for gas cooktops after reviewing data submitted by one of the 51�Թ���’s trade association partners and a utility company, (subscription) reports.

What’s going on: “In a notice of data availability to be published in Wednesday’s Federal Register, DOE floated less stringent efficiency requirements for gas stoves. The initial proposal called for a consumption limit of 1,204 … British thermal units, or kBtu, per year, down from the baseline estimate of 1,775 kBtu per year. But the new proposal raises those figures slightly. Now DOE is proposing a limit of 1,343 kBtu per year, down from a recalculated baseline of 1,900 kBtu per year.”

• The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers and PG&E provided the DOE with data on cooktops with higher consumption rates, which the agency had not used in its initial efficiency testing.
• “Other comments led DOE ‘to better understand’ what features consumers want in a gas stove, including multiple high input rate burners and continuous cast-iron grates,” POLITICO reports.

Why it’s important: Manufacturers would be required to spend more than $2.5 billion to comply with the originally proposed rules, according to the DOE’s own estimates. However, consumers would save just 12.5 cents a month in energy costs.

• The mandates would have been so strict as to make 96% of gas stoves on the market .

What Congress has done: In June the House passed the , which would prevent the DOE from advancing its unworkable stove requirements.

What we’re doing: The 51�Թ��� has held high-level discussions with policymakers on the importance of feasibility, affordability and consumer choice in rulemaking.

• To that end, in June the 51�Թ��� and members of the 51�Թ���’s Council of Manufacturing Associations and Conference of State Manufacturers Associations created the , which aims to combat the recent regulatory onslaught by federal agencies.

The 51�Թ��� says: “Manufacturers depend on regulatory clarity and certainty,”  51�Թ��� Managing Vice President of Policy Chris Netram.

• Throughout the year, the Department of Energy has proposed an unprecedented slew of regulations, and many were aimed at home appliances. The DOE is now taking steps toward a solution that is less likely to raise production costs significantly for manufacturers, and less likely to reduce the available features, performance and affordability for consumers.”