Update: Energy Choice

The House Committee on Energy & Commerce (E&C) “is moving aggressively to advance the NEFI-backed Energy Choice Act and other legislation that would significantly strengthen consumer choice at all levels of government, the National Energy & Fuels Institute reports in its newsletter.

A series of hearings on the issue, held by E&C’s Subcommittee on Energy, signals “serious Republican intent to bring these measures to a floor vote,” according to the newsletter, NEFI Energy and Online News (NEON). In September, a hearing titled “Appliance and Building Policies: Restoring the American Dream of Home Ownership and Consumer Choice” featured “pointed criticism of federal energy efficiency programs and building codes that Republicans argue have been used as a backdoor way to ban or limit consumer access to the fuels and appliances of their choice,” the Sept. 16 issue of the newsletter reported.

The Energy Subcommittee later held a legislative hearing on eight bills that would fundamentally reshape federal energy policy to protect consumer choice, the newsletter said, including the Energy Choice Act (H.R. 3699), which NEFI says it helped draft and led a national coalition to support.