I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 906 

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

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 11, 2015 

Mr. WHITFIELD (for himself, Mr. WELCH, Mr. LATTA, Mr. LOEBSACK, Mr. 

CRAMER, and Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

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 LOCK.—The term 

2 ‘activation lock’ means a control mecha3 nism (either a physical device directly on 

4 the water heater or a control system inte5 grated into the water heater) that is locked 

6 by default and contains a physical, soft7 ware, or digital communication that must 

8 be activated with an activation key to en9 able the product to operate at its designed 

10 specifications and capabilities and without 

11 which activation the product will provide 

12 not greater than 50 percent of the rated 

13 first 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, 2016; 

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 equivalent alter8 native standard prescribed by the 

9 Secretary and developed pursu10 ant to paragraph (5)(E); 

11 ‘‘(IV) is equipped at the point of 

12 manufacture with an activation lock; 

13 and 

14 ‘‘(V) bears a permanent label ap15 plied by the manufacturer that— 

16 ‘‘(aa) is made of material 

17 not adversely affected by water; 

18 ‘‘(bb) is attached by means 

19 of non-water-soluble adhesive; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(cc) advises purchasers and 

22 end-users of the intended and ap23 propriate use of the product with 

24 the following notice printed in 


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1 16.5 point Arial Narrow Bold 

2 font: 

3 ‘‘ ‘IMPORTANT INFORMATION: This water heater is 

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

5 or demand response program. It will not provide adequate 

6 hot water unless enrolled in such a program and activated 

7 by your utility company or another program operator. 

8 Confirm the availability of a program in your local area 

9 before purchasing or installing this product.’. 

10 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENT.—The manufacturer 

11 or private labeler shall provide the activation 

12 key for a grid-enabled water heater only to a 

13 utility or other company that operates an elec14 tric thermal storage or demand response pro15 gram that uses such a grid-enabled water heat16 er. 

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 Sep 11 2014 02:20 Feb 20, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H906.IH H906

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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 Sep 11 2014 02:20 Feb 20, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H906.IH H906

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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— 

11 ‘‘(I) grid-enabled water heaters 

12 do not require a separate efficiency 

13 requirement; or 

14 ‘‘(II) sales of grid-enabled water 

15 heaters exceed by 15 percent or great16 er the quantity of such products acti17 vated for use in demand response and 

18 thermal storage programs annually 

19 and procedures to prevent product di20 version for non-program purposes 

21 would not be adequate to prevent such 

22 product diversion. 

23 ‘‘(ii) EFFECTIVE DATE.—If the Sec24 retary exercises the authority described in 

25 clause (i) or amends the efficiency requireVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:20 Feb 20, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H906.IH H906

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1 ment for grid-enabled water heaters, that 

2 action will take effect on the date de3 scribed in subsection (m)(4)(A)(ii). 

4 ‘‘(iii) CONSIDERATION.—In carrying 

5 out this section with respect to electric 

6 water heaters, the Secretary shall consider 

7 the impact on thermal storage and demand 

8 response programs, including any impact 

9 on energy savings, electric bills, peak load 

10 reduction, electric reliability, integration of 

11 renewable resources, and the environment. 

12 ‘‘(iv) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying 

13 out this paragraph, the Secretary shall re14 quire that grid-enabled water heaters be 

15 equipped with communication capability to 

16 enable the grid-enabled water heaters to 

17 participate in ancillary services programs if 

18 the Secretary determines that the tech19 nology is available, practical, and cost-ef20 fective.’’; 

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

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

23 the end; 

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

25 the period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 


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1 (C) by redesignating the second paragraph 

2 (6) as paragraph (7); 

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

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

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

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

7 ‘‘(8) for any person to— 

8 ‘‘(A) activate an activation lock for a grid9 enabled water heater with knowledge that such 

10 water heater is not used as part of an electric 

11 thermal storage or demand response program; 

12 ‘‘(B) distribute an activation key for a 

13 grid-enabled water heater with knowledge that 

14 such activation key will be used to activate a 

15 grid-enabled water heater that is not used as 

16 part of an electric thermal storage or demand 

17 response program; 

18 ‘‘(C) otherwise enable a grid-enabled water 

19 heater to operate at its designed specification 

20 and capabilities with knowledge that such water 

21 heater is not used as part of an electric thermal 

22 storage or demand response program; or 

23 ‘‘(D) knowingly remove or render illegible 

24 the label of a grid-enabled water heater de25 scribed in section 325(e)(6)(A)(ii)(V).’’; 


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1 (3) in section 333(a) (42 U.S.C. 6303(a))— 

2 (A) by striking ‘‘section 332(a)(5)’’ and in3 serting ‘‘paragraph (5), (6), (7), or (8) of sec4 tion 332(a)’’; and 

5 (B) by striking ‘‘paragraph (1), (2), or (5) 

6 of section 332(a)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 

7 (1), (2), (5), (6), (7), or (8) of section 332(a)’’; 

8 and 

9 (4) in section 334 (42 U.S.C. 6304)— 

10 (A) by striking ‘‘section 332(a)(5)’’ and in11 serting ‘‘paragraph (5), (6), (7), or (8) of sec12 tion 332(a)’’; and 

13 (B) by striking ‘‘section 332(a)(6)’’ and in14 serting ‘‘section 332(a)(7)’’. 

Æ 


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