II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1739 

To modify the efficiency standards for grid-enabled water heaters. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 20, 2013 

Mr. HOEVEN (for himself, Mr. PRYOR, Mr. CHAMBLISS, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, and 

Mr. BLUNT) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To modify the efficiency standards for grid-enabled water 

heaters. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. GRID-ENABLED WATER HEATERS. 

4 Part B of title III of the Energy Policy and Conserva5 tion Act (42 U.S.C. 6291 et seq.) is amended— 

6 (1) in section 325(e) (42 U.S.C. 6295(e)), by 

7 adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(6) ADDITIONAL STANDARDS FOR GRID-EN9 ABLED WATER HEATERS.— 

10 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(i) ACTIVATION KEY.—The term ‘ac2 tivation key’ means a physical device or 

3 control directly on the water heater, a soft4 ware code, or a digital communication 

5 means— 

6 ‘‘(I) that must be activated to en7 able the product to operate continu8 ously and at its designed specifica9 tions and capabilities; and 

10 ‘‘(II) without which activation 

11 the product will provide not greater 

12 than 50 percent of the rated first 

13 hour delivery of hot water certified by 

14 the manufacturer. 

15 ‘‘(ii) GRID-ENABLED WATER HEAT16 ER.—The term ‘grid-enabled water heater’ 

17 means an electric resistance water heater 

18 that— 

19 ‘‘(I) has a rated storage tank vol20 ume of more than 75 gallons; 

21 ‘‘(II) is manufactured on or after 

22 April 16, 2015; 

23 ‘‘(III) has— 

24 ‘‘(aa) an energy factor of 

25 not less than 1.061 minus the 


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1 product obtained by multi2 plying— 

3 ‘‘(AA) the rated storage 

4 volume of the tank, ex5 pressed in gallons; and 

6 ‘‘(BB) 0.00168; or 

7 ‘‘(bb) an efficiency level 

8 equivalent to the energy factor 

9 under item (aa) and expressed as 

10 a uniform energy descriptor 

11 based on the revised test proce12 dure for water heaters described 

13 in paragraph (5); 

14 ‘‘(IV) is equipped by the manu15 facturer with an activation key; and 

16 ‘‘(V) bears a permanent label ap17 plied by the manufacturer that— 

18 ‘‘(aa) is made of material 

19 not adversely affected by water; 

20 ‘‘(bb) is attached by means 

21 of non-water-soluble adhesive; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(cc) advises purchasers and 

24 end-users of the intended and ap25 propriate use of the product with 


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1 the following notice printed in 

2 16.5 point Arial Narrow Bold 

3 font: 

4 ‘‘ ‘IMPORTANT INFORMATION: This water heater is 

5 intended only for use as part of an electric thermal storage 

6 or demand response program. It will not provide adequate 

7 hot water unless enrolled in such a program and activated 

8 by your utility company or another program operator. 

9 Confirm the availability of a program in your local area 

10 before purchasing or installing this product.’. 

11 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENT.—The manufacturer 

12 or private labeler shall provide the activation 

13 key only to utilities or other companies oper14 ating electric thermal storage or demand re15 sponse programs that use grid-enabled water 

16 heaters. 

17 ‘‘(C) REPORTS.— 

18 ‘‘(i) MANUFACTURERS.—The Sec19 retary shall require each manufacturer of 

20 grid-enabled water heaters to report to the 

21 Secretary annually the quantity of grid-en22 abled water heaters that the manufacturer 

23 ships each year. 

24 ‘‘(ii) OPERATORS.—The Secretary 

25 shall require utilities and other demand reVerDate Mar 15 2010 18:34 Nov 22, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1739.IS S1739

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1 sponse and thermal storage program oper2 ators to report annually the quantity of 

3 grid-enabled water heaters activated for 

4 their programs using forms of the Energy 

5 Information Agency or using such other 

6 mechanism that the Secretary determines 

7 appropriate after an opportunity for notice 

8 and comment. 

9 ‘‘(iii) CONFIDENTIALITY REQUIRE10 MENTS.—The Secretary shall treat ship11 ment data reported by manufacturers as 

12 confidential business information. 

13 ‘‘(D) PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION.— 

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In 2017 and 

15 2019, the Secretary shall publish an anal16 ysis of the data collected under subpara17 graph (C) to assess the extent to which 

18 shipped products are put into use in de19 mand response and thermal storage pro20 grams. 

21 ‘‘(ii) PREVENTION OF PRODUCT DI22 VERSION.—If the Secretary determines 

23 that sales of grid-enabled water heaters ex24 ceed by 15 percent or greater the quantity 

25 of such products activated for use in deVerDate Mar 15 2010 18:34 Nov 22, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1739.IS S1739

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1 mand response and thermal storage pro2 grams annually, the Secretary shall, after 

3 opportunity for notice and comment, estab4 lish procedures to prevent product diver5 sion for non-program purposes. 

6 ‘‘(E) COMPLIANCE.— 

7 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraphs 

8 (A) through (D) shall remain in effect 

9 until the Secretary determines under this 

10 section that grid-enabled water heaters do 

11 not require a separate efficiency require12 ment. 

13 ‘‘(ii) EFFECTIVE DATE.—If the Sec14 retary exercises the authority described in 

15 clause (i) or amends the efficiency require16 ment for grid-enabled water heaters, that 

17 action will take effect on the date de18 scribed in subsection (m)(4)(A)(ii). 

19 ‘‘(iii) CONSIDERATION.—In carrying 

20 out this section with respect to electric 

21 water heaters, the Secretary shall consider 

22 the impact on thermal storage and demand 

23 response programs, including the con24 sequent impact on energy savings, electric 


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1 bills, electric reliability, integration of re2 newable resources, and the environment. 

3 ‘‘(iv) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying 

4 out this subparagraph, the Secretary shall 

5 require that grid-enabled water heaters be 

6 equipped with communication capability to 

7 enable the grid-enabled water heaters to 

8 participate in ancillary services programs if 

9 the Secretary determines that the tech10 nology is available, practical, and cost-ef11 fective.’’; and 

12 (2) in section 332 (42 U.S.C. 6302)— 

13 (A) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 

14 the end; 

15 (B) in the first paragraph (6), by striking 

16 the period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 

17 (C) by redesignating the second paragraph 

18 (6) as paragraph (7); 

19 (D) in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (7) 

20 (as so redesignated), by striking the period at 

21 the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

22 (E) by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(8) with respect to grid-enabled water heaters 

24 that are not used as part of an electric thermal storVerDate Mar 15 2010 18:34 Nov 22, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1739.IS S1739

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1 age or demand response program, for any person 

2 knowingly and repeatedly— 

3 ‘‘(A) to distribute activation keys for those 

4 grid-enabled water heaters; 

5 ‘‘(B) otherwise to enable the full operation 

6 of those grid-enabled water heaters; or 

7 ‘‘(C) to remove or render illegible the la8 bels of those grid-enabled water heaters.’’. 

Æ 


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