Hill Heat

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Energy, Climate, and Grid Security Subcommittee Chair Jeff Duncan (R-SC) announced a legislative hearing titled “Keeping the Lights On: Enhancing Reliability and Efficiency to Power American Homes.”

Hearing memo

Witnesses:

Panel One:

• Gene Rodrigues, Assistant Secretary for Electricity, Office of Electricity, U.S. Department of Energy;
• David Ortiz, Director, Office of Electric Reliability, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Panel Two:

• Kevin Messner, Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer, Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers
• B. Robert “Bob” Paulling, President and CEO, Mid-Carolina Electric Cooperative, on behalf of the National Rural Electric Cooperatives Association
• Ben Lieberman, Senior Fellow, Competitive Enterprise Institute
• Andrew deLaski, Executive Director, Appliance Standards Awareness Project

Legislation to be discussed:

• H.R. 4167, Protecting America’s Distribution Transformer Supply Chain Act (Rep. Richard Hudson), to prohibit the Secretary of Energy from strengthening energy conservation standards for distribution transformers for 5 years
• H.R. ___, DOE Appliance and Equipment Standards Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Rep. Debbie Lesko), to place increased restrictions on new energy efficiency standards for appliances and other products
• H.R. ___, GRID Act (Rep. Jeff Duncan), to to require coordination between the FERC and any Federal agency that promulgates a regulation that could have a “significant negative impact” on the reliable operation of the bulk power system, as determined either by FERC or a state commission