AGA, the American Public Gas Association (AGA)  and the National Propane Gas Association (NPGA) Request Clarification from DOE on its Proposing to Rescind Efficiency Requirements for Conventional Gas Cooking Tops and Ovens.

As a reminder, in the May 30, 2025 BECS Update on End Use Codes and Standards, we reported on the DOE issuance of  two Federal Register Notices one on conventional cooking tops and one on conventional ovens  proposing to rescind the amended design requirements for conventional cooking tops and conventional ovens. At that time, we believed that the proposal would return the design requirements for both conventional cooking tops and conventional ovens to the standards for kitchen ranges and ovens set by Congress that are, “Gas kitchen ranges and ovens having an electrical supply cord shall not be equipped with a constant burning pilot for products manufactured on or after January 1, 1990.” DOE is requesting comments on or before July 15, 2025. We also interpreted the write up for the notice that if finalized by DOE, this would essentially remove the DOE minimum efficiency requirements for gas cooking products issued by DOE on January 29, 2024.  According to the May 16, 2025 notice, DOE is “proposing to rescind these regulations for multiple independent reasons, including but not limited to the following. The write up stated that “The design requirements are not economically justifiable. Furthermore, the Secretary is proposing a new policy to reduce regulatory burden wherever possible. Unless a regulatory standard is required by statute, the Secretary proposes eliminating that requirement. These design requirements are not necessary to fulfill DOE’s statutory mission.”  However, upon further review of the Notices, the change proposed by DOE for gas cooktops only deleted the reference for portable  “gas cooktops” and left in place the existing requirements for conventional gas cooktops. Because of the apparent difference between the stated reason for the DOE “Proposed rule; request for comments”, AGA, APGA and NPGA have drafted the attached request to DOE on the intent of the proposed rule since there appears to be a major difference on what gas cooktops DOE is planning to address.  We jointly drafted the attached request for clarification from DOE in order to develop specific comments that will be different depending on what the DOE is proposing to address. We plan to submit the clarification request on the July 15 deadline.  Please review the draft request and let us know if you have any questions on it. We will provide the DOE response when available.

AGA Response to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Recommendation on the 2023 West Reading, PA Incident.

For your information, below is an item from the July 10, 2025, AGA Safety, Operations, Engineering and Security section update that reports on the AGA response to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) request on comments to the NTSB recommendations in the final report on the 2023 West Reading, PA incident.

On July 7, AGA sent a letter (attached) of response to NTSB Recommendation P-25-9, issued by the National Transportation Safety Board to AGA on April 8, 2025 as part of their final report on the 2023 West Reading, PA incident. The letter reiterates AGA’s commitment to pipeline safety and learning lessons from the West Reading incident and acknowledges the potential for natural gas detectors to complement the primary means of detecting releases of natural gas, namely odorization. While deployment of natural gas is not jurisdictional to pipeline operators and is appropriately backstopped by consensus standards (e.g., NFPA 715), AGA’s letter committed to “[sending] additional communications to its member companies, providing them an update on how voluntary consensus standards are addressing natural gas alarms and to encourage members to consider whether, when, and how to communicate the potential safety benefits of natural gas alarms when installed and maintained consistent with manufacturer and local code requirements.”

AGA also sent a separate letter to the federal  Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration  (PHMSA) articulating AGA’s perspectives on NTSB Recommendations P-25-1 and P-25-2 (issued to PHMSA), and how NTSB recommendations related to performing an inventory of plastic-heat source risks, as well as the mitigation of risk of Aldyl A tees with Delrin inserts may be realistically applied.

AHRI Releases May 2025 Heating and Cooling Equipment Shipment Data.

For those interested in shipment trends for residential and commercial gas and electric storage type water heaters, residential gas and oil furnaces, electric heat pumps and air-conditioners, click here for the July 11,  2025 Air-Conditioning Heating, & Refrigeration (AHRI) Press Release that provides the March, 2025 U.S. Heating and Cooling Equipment Shipment Data. For previous monthly shipment releases and historical data, please click here . You may also wish to share this information with other groups or individuals within your organization that would be interested in this shipment data.

State Codes Activity Update.

Attached is a weekly feature of the “Friday Update” covering state code calendar activities as presented by the online utility “Fiscal Note,” which is sponsored by APGA and AGA Code and Standards. Please review the update and determine if there are state code activities that impact your service territory or organization.