I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7962 
To amend the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to modify the definition 
of water heater under energy conservation standards, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 7, 2022 
Mrs. DINGELL (for herself, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Ms. MOORE of Wis-
consin, Mr. COOPER, Mr. ROSE, Mr. TONKO, Mr. WELCH, Mr. WALBERG, 
Ms. ESCOBAR, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. KIND, and Mrs. HARSHBARGER) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 
and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to modify 
the definition of water heater under energy conservation 
standards, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. WATER HEATERS. 
(a) DEFINITION OF WATER HEATER.—Section 321 
of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 
6291) is amended by striking paragraph (27) and insert-
ing the following: 
‘‘(27) WATER HEATER.— 
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‘‘(aa) gas instantaneous water 
heaters, have an input of 200,000 Btu 
per hour or less and are designed and 
marketed to provide outlet hot water 
at a thermostatically controlled tem-
perature of less than 180 degrees 
Fahrenheit; 
‘‘(bb) oil instantaneous water 
heaters, have an input of 210,000 Btu 
per hour or less; and 
‘‘(cc) electric instantaneous water 
heaters, have an input of 12 kilowatts 
or less; 
‘‘(iii) heat pump type units (including 
add-on heat pumps, integrated heat pumps 
with storage, split-system heat pumps that 
consist of a separate heat pump and stor-
age tank that are designed and marketed 
to operate together, and all ancillary equip-
ment, such as fans, storage tanks, pumps, 
electric resistance heating elements, or 
controls necessary for the device to per-
form its function) that— 
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‘‘(I) have a maximum current 
rating of 24 amperes at a voltage not 
greater than 250 volts; and 
‘‘(II) are designed to transfer 
thermal energy from 1 temperature 
level to a different temperature level 
for the purpose of heating water; 
‘‘(iv) solar thermal-assisted electric 
storage units; and 
‘‘(v) solar thermal-assisted fossil fuel 
storage units. 
‘‘(B) EXCLUSIONS.—Except as provided by 
the Secretary in accordance with section 
325(e)(7)(B), the term ‘water heater’ does not 
include— 
‘‘(i) electric storage type units de-
scribed in subparagraph (A)(i)(III) that— 
‘‘(I) are designed and marketed 
exclusively for commercial building 
applications; and 
‘‘(II)(aa) 
are 
designed, 
con-
structed, 
inspected, 
tested, 
and 
stamped in accordance with the most 
current Section IV, Part HLW, or 
Section X of the Boiler and Pressure 
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Vessel Code promulgated by the 
American Society of Mechanical Engi-
neers; 
‘‘(bb) exclusively use 3-phase 
electricity, are designed and marketed 
to provide outlet hot water at a 
thermostatically controlled tempera-
ture of 180 degrees Fahrenheit or 
greater, and operate only at rated 
voltages of not less than 208 volts; or 
‘‘(cc) exclusively use single-phase 
electricity, are designed and marketed 
to provide outlet hot water at a 
thermostatically controlled tempera-
ture of 180 degrees Fahrenheit or 
greater, and operate only at a rated 
voltage of 277 volts; or 
‘‘(ii) gas storage type units described 
in subparagraph (A)(i)(I) that— 
‘‘(I) are designed and marketed 
exclusively for commercial building 
applications; and 
‘‘(II) are designed, constructed, 
inspected, tested, and stamped in ac-
cordance with the most current Sec-
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tion IV, Part HLW, of the Boiler and 
Pressure Vessel Code promulgated by 
the American Society of Mechanical 
Engineers. 
‘‘(C) MULTI-INPUT
ELECTRIC
STORAGE 
WATER HEATER.—The term ‘multi-input elec-
tric storage water heater’ means a product 
that— 
‘‘(i) is not a heat pump type unit de-
scribed in subparagraph (A)(iii); and 
‘‘(ii) is designed, marketed, or shipped 
from the manufacturer with a capability of 
operating or being configured to operate at 
inputs greater than, equal to, or below 12 
kilowatts. 
‘‘(D) SOLAR THERMAL-ASSISTED ELECTRIC 
STORAGE
UNIT.—The term ‘solar thermal-as-
sisted electric storage unit’ means a unit that— 
‘‘(i) has an input of 12 kilowatts or 
less; 
‘‘(ii) has at least 2 dedicated ports in 
addition to the ports used for introduction 
and delivery of potable water for the sup-
ply and return of water or a heat transfer 
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fluid heated externally by solar collector or 
solar thermal collector; 
‘‘(iii) does not have electric resistance 
heating elements located in the lower half 
of the storage tank; 
‘‘(iv) has the temperature sensing de-
vice that controls the auxiliary electric heat 
source located in the upper half of the 
storage tank; and 
‘‘(v) has a ratio of less than 0.70 for 
the proportion that the certified first hour 
rating bears to the nominal volume of the 
storage tank tested without solar energy 
input.’’. 
(b) TEST PROCEDURES.—Section 323(b)(3) of the 
Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 
6293(b)(3)) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘(3) Any test’’ and inserting the 
following: 
‘‘(3) DESIGN OF TEST PROCEDURES.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any test’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(B) ELECTRIC STORAGE WATER HEATERS 
DEMAND
RESPONSE
CAPABILITIES
REQUIRE-
MENTS.—Any test procedures prescribed or 
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amended under this section for electric storage 
water heaters for which the Secretary has es-
tablished requirements for demand response ca-
pabilities under section 325A shall be designed 
to assess compliance with those requirements in 
addition to producing the test results described 
in subparagraph (A).’’. 
(c) STANDARDS
FOR WATER HEATERS.—Section 
325(e) of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 
U.S.C. 6295(e)) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(7) EXEMPTED WATER HEATERS.— 
‘‘(A) DEFINITION
OF
EXEMPTED
WATER 
HEATER.—In this paragraph, the term ‘exempt-
ed water heater’ means a water heater de-
scribed in section 321(27)(B). 
‘‘(B) MONITORING OF SHIPMENTS.— 
‘‘(i) SUBMISSION OF DATA.—Not later 
than 90 days after the date of enactment 
of this paragraph, and not later than May 
1 of each year thereafter, the Secretary 
shall require each manufacturer of water 
heaters to report to the Secretary the 
quantity of exempted water heaters, in 
each category of exempted water heaters, 
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that the manufacturer shipped in the pre-
ceding calendar year. 
‘‘(ii) 
CONFIDENTIALITY
REQUIRE-
MENTS.—The Secretary shall treat ship-
ment data reported by manufacturers 
under clause (i) as confidential business in-
formation subject to appropriate confiden-
tial data safeguards. 
‘‘(iii) PUBLICATION.— 
‘‘(I) 
BASELINE
SHIPMENT 
DATA.—Not later than 120 days after 
the date of enactment of this para-
graph, the Secretary shall publish an 
analysis of the data collected under 
clause (i) for public comment, subject 
to 
applicable 
confidentiality 
safe-
guards, which shall serve as the base-
line data for the analysis described in 
subclause (II)(bb). 
‘‘(II) 
PERCENTAGE
GROWTH 
FROM
BASELINE.—Not later than 
June 1 of each year after the year in 
which the Secretary publishes data 
under subclause (I), the Secretary 
shall publish— 
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‘‘(aa) an analysis of the data 
collected under clause (i) for pub-
lic comment, subject to applicable 
confidentiality safeguards; 
‘‘(bb) the percentage growth 
in the number of shipments with-
in each category of exempted 
water heater relative to the base-
line data described in subclause 
(I); and 
‘‘(cc) the determination of 
the Secretary as to whether the 
number of shipments for any cat-
egory of exempted water heater 
have increased by more than 25 
percent compared to the baseline 
data for that category. 
‘‘(C) INCLUSION
OF
EXEMPTED
WATER 
HEATERS.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—If the Secretary 
makes an affirmative determination under 
subparagraph (B)(iii)(II)(cc) for a cat-
egory of exempted water heater— 
‘‘(I) the Secretary, by regulation, 
shall provide that, for purposes of this 
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part, the term ‘water heater’ includes 
that category of exempted water heat-
er; and 
‘‘(II) beginning on the effective 
date of the regulation described in 
subclause (I), the exclusion described 
in section 321(27)(B) shall not apply 
to that category of exempted water 
heater. 
‘‘(ii) ENERGY CONSERVATION STAND-
ARDS.—Any category of exempted water 
heater included in the definition of water 
heater under clause (i) shall be required to 
meet the energy conservation standards 
applicable to an electric or gas storage type 
water heater under this part. 
‘‘(iii) EFFECTIVE
DATE.—For any 
category of exempted water heater, the 
Secretary shall carry out clause (i), and re-
quire compliance under clause (ii), not 
later than 1 year after the date on which 
the Secretary makes the affirmative deter-
mination described in clause (i) for that 
category. 
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‘‘(8) STANDARDS FOR MULTI-INPUT ELECTRIC 
STORAGE WATER HEATERS.—A multi-input electric 
storage water heater shall be subject to the test pro-
cedures, energy conservation standards, labeling (if 
applicable), and certification requirements— 
‘‘(A) for electric storage water heaters 
under this part; and 
‘‘(B) for storage water heaters under part 
C.’’. 
(d) WATER HEATER DEMAND RESPONSE CAPABILI-
TIES REQUIREMENTS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Part B of title III of the 
Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 
6291 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 
325 the following: 
‘‘SEC. 325A. WATER HEATER DEMAND RESPONSE CAPABILI-
TIES REQUIREMENTS. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) DEMAND RESPONSE.—The term ‘demand 
response’ means changes in electricity usage by de-
mand-side resources from the normal consumption 
patterns of those demand-side resources in response 
to— 
‘‘(A) changes in the price of electricity over 
time; or 
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‘‘(B) incentive payments designed to in-
duce lower electricity use— 
‘‘(i) at times of high wholesale market 
prices; or 
‘‘(ii) during periods in which system 
reliability is jeopardized. 
‘‘(2) DEMAND RESPONSE CAPABILITIES.—The 
term ‘demand response capabilities’ means the hard-
ware or software, including any combination of hard-
ware and software, that is necessary to participate 
in a demand response program, as determined by 
the Secretary. 
‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.— 
‘‘(1) INITIAL REQUIREMENTS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall— 
‘‘(i) determine, in accordance with 
subparagraph (D), whether to require that 
electric storage water heaters possess de-
mand response capabilities; and 
‘‘(ii) not later than December 31, 
2024— 
‘‘(I) promulgate a final rule with 
the requirement described in clause 
(i); or 
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‘‘(II) issue a public notice of a 
negative determination under that 
clause. 
‘‘(B) STORAGE
CAPACITIES.—The Sec-
retary may make separate determinations under 
subparagraph (A) for water heaters of different 
storage capacities. 
‘‘(C) EFFECT OF NEGATIVE DETERMINA-
TION.—If the Secretary makes a negative deter-
mination under subparagraph (A)(i), nothing in 
this paragraph shall prohibit the Secretary from 
completing the rulemaking described in sub-
clause (I) of subparagraph (A)(ii) after the date 
described in that subparagraph if the Secretary 
later determines that such rulemaking is nec-
essary. 
‘‘(D) DETERMINATION.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—In carrying out 
subparagraph (A)(i), the Secretary shall 
make an affirmative determination under 
that subparagraph if the Secretary deter-
mines that— 
‘‘(I) the requirement is needed to 
promote participation in demand re-
sponse programs; and 
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