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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 28 / Friday, February 12, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
Appendix E2 to Part 305Portable Air Conditioners
RANGE INFORMATION
Seasonally adjusted cooling capacity range Btu/h
Range of estimated annual energy costs dollars/year Low
Less than 6,000 Btu
6,000 to 7,999 Btu
8,000 or greater Btu

High
$48
87
104

$98
120
135

14. Effective October 1, 2022, revise appendix K2 to part 305 to read as follows:

Appendix K2 to Part 305
Representative Average Unit Energy Costs for Dishwasher, Room Air Conditioner, Portable Air Conditioner Labels
305.16, 305.18 and 305.27 for dishwashers, room air conditioners, and portable air conditioners. This Table is based on information published by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2017.

This Table contains the representative unit energy costs that must be utilized to calculate estimated annual energy cost disclosures required under As required by DOE test procedure
Type of energy
In commonly used terms
Electricity
Natural Gas
No. 2 Heating Oil
Propane
Kerosene

13.00/kWh1
$1.05/therm 2 or $10.86/MCF 3
$2.59/gallon 4
$1.53/gallon 5
$3.01/gallon 6

$.1300/kWh.
$0.00001052/Btu.
$0.00001883/Btu.
$0.00001672/Btu.
$0.00002232/Btu.

1 kWh
stands for kilowatt hour. kWh = 3,412 Btu British thermal units.
= 100,000 Btu.
3 MCF stands for 1,000 cubic feet. For the purposes of this table, one cubic foot of natural gas has an energy equivalence of 1,032 Btu.
4 For the purposes of this table, one gallon of No. 2 heating oil has an energy equivalence of 137,561 Btu.
5 For the purposes of this table, one gallon of liquid propane has an energy equivalence of 91,333 Btu.
6 For the purposes of this table, one gallon of kerosene has an energy equivalence of 135,000 Btu.
2 therm
By direction of the Commission, Commissioner Wilson dissenting.
April J. Tabor, Acting Secretary.
Editorial Note: The Office of the Federal Register received this document on December 23, 2020.
Note: The following will not appear in the Code of Federal Regulations.

Dissenting Statement of Commissioner Christine S. Wilson Todays Commission action finalizes required changes to the Energy Labeling Rule, but fails to remove prescriptive aspects of the Rule that I believe are unnecessary and that could hinder important aspects of competition. For the reasons described below, I dissent.
The current amendments were proposed in March 2020. At that time, and at my urging,1 the Commission also sought comment on the more 1 See Dissenting Statement of Commissioner Christine S. Wilson on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Energy Labeling Rule Dec. 10, 2018
expressing my view that the Commission should seek comment on the prescriptive labeling requirements, https www.ftc.gov/publicstatements/2018/12/dissenting-statementcommissioner-christine-s-wilson-notice-proposed;
See Dissenting Statement of Commissioner Christine S. Wilson on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Energy Labeling Rule Oct. 22, 2019
urging the Commission to seek comment on the labeling requirements, https www.ftc.gov/system/
files/documents/public_statements/1551786/
r611004_wilson_dissent_energy_labeling_rule.pdf.

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prescriptive aspects of the Rule.2 I was pleased to receive many interesting and thoughtful comments submitted by stakeholders. For example, industry members explained that changes in the market and consumer behavior indicate that affixed labels with detailed information may have ceased to provide benefits to consumers.3 Industry members also proposed providing the labeling information online or through QR codes at brick-and-mortar locations.4
Making this information easier to access in the digital era could foster greater competition among appliance manufacturers and more informed purchasing decisions by consumers.
Rather than act on these comments or proposals, though, the Commission has chosen to finalize only the air conditioning proposals necessary to conform to Department of Energy changes. The Federal Register Notice approved by a majority of the 2 See Concurring Statement of Commissioner Christine S. Wilson on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Energy Labeling Rule Mar. 20, 2020, https www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/
public_statements/1569815/r611004_wilson_
statement_energy_labeling.pdf.
3 See, e.g., Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute AHRI Comment 3309, available at: https www.regulations.gov/
document?D=FTC-2020-0033-0009; Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers AHAM Comment 3304, available at: https www.regulations.gov/
document?D=FTC-2020-0033-0004; Goodman Manufacturing Comment 3308, available at:
https www.regulations.gov/document?D=FTC2020-0033-0008.
4 Id.

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Commission explains that revising other aspects of the labeling obligations imposed by the Rule will require further exploration. I see no reason for the Commission to forego that exploration now. We can both finalize these changes and ask stakeholders for additional input on how to improve the rest of the Rule.
The FTC promulgated the Energy Labeling Rule in the 1970s, an era when the agency was engaged in prolific rulemaking.5 As I have noted previously,6 no area of commerce was too straightforward or mundane to escape the Commissions notice:
The Rule on Misbranding and Deception as to Leather Content of 5 See, e.g., Timothy J. Muris, Paper: Will the FTCs Success Continue?, George Mason Law &
Economics No. 18 Sept. 24, 2018 discussing the successes and failures of the FTCs enforcement efforts including the aggressive rulemaking activities in the 1970s, available at: https
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_
id=3254294; Timothy J. Muris, Rules Without Reason, AEI J. on Govt and Society Sept/Oct.
1982 describing failed FTC rulemaking proceedings, available at: https www.cato.org/
sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/regulation/1982/9/
v6n5-4.pdf; Teresa Schwartz, Regulating Unfair Practices Under The FTC Act: The Need For a Legal Standard of Unfairness, 11 Akron Law Rev. 1 1978
explaining that the judicial reversals of FTC
regulations resulted from a failure to establish an adequate legal basis for the regulations, available at: https ideaexchange.uakron.edu/
akronlawreview/vol11/iss1/1/.
6 See Concurring Statement of Commissioner Christine S. Wilson, Amplifier Rule Dec. 17, 2020, https www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/
public_statements/1585038/csw_amplifier_rule_
stmt_11192020.pdf.

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