[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 31 (Wednesday, February 14, 1996)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 5678-5680]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-3263]



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[[Page 5679]]


FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

16 CFR Part 305


Rule Concerning Disclosures Regarding Energy Consumption and 
Water Use of Certain Home Appliances and Other Products Required Under 
the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (``Appliance Labeling Rule'')

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Final rule revision.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Trade Commission's Appliance Labeling Rule 
requires that Table 1, in Sec. 305.9, which sets forth the 
representative average unit energy costs for five residential energy 
sources, be revised periodically on the basis of updated information 
provided by the Department of Energy (``DOE'').
    This document revises the table to incorporate the latest figures 
for average unit energy costs as published by DOE in the Federal 
Register on January 19, 1996.\1\

    \1\ 61 FR 1366.
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DATES: The revisions to Sec. 305.9(a) and Table 1 are effective March 
15, 1996. The mandatory dates for using these revised DOE cost figures 
in connection with the Appliance Labeling Rule are detailed in the 
Supplementary Information Section, below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
James Mills, Attorney, 202-326-3035 Division of Enforcement, Federal 
Trade Commission, Washington, DC 20580.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On November 19, 1979, the Federal Trade 
Commission issued a final rule in response to a directive in section 
324 of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (``EPCA''), 42 U.S.C. 
6201.\2\ The rule requires the disclosure of energy efficiency, 
consumption, or cost information on labels and in retail sales catalogs 
for eight categories of appliances, and mandates that the energy costs, 
consumption, or efficiency ratings be based on standardized test 
procedures developed by DOE. The cost information obtained by following 
the test procedures is derived by using the representative average unit 
energy costs provided by DOE. Table 1 in Sec. 305.9(a) of the rule sets 
forth the representative average unit energy costs to be used for all 
cost-related requirements of the rule. As stated in Sec. 305.9(b), the 
Table is to be revised periodically on the basis of updated information 
provided by DOE.

    \2\ 44 FR 66466. since its promulgation, the rule has been 
amended four times to include new product categories--central air 
conditioners (52 FR 46888, Dec. 10, 1987), fluorescent lamp ballasts 
(54 FR 1182, Jan. 12, 1989), certain plumbing products (58 FR 54955, 
Oct. 25, 1993), and certain lamp products (59 FR 25176, May 13, 
1994). Obligations under the rule concerning fluorescent lamp 
ballasts, lighting products, and plumbing products are not affected 
by the cost figures in this notice.
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    On January 19, 1996, DOE published the most recent figures for 
representative average unit energy costs. Accordingly, Table 1 is 
revised to reflect these latest cost figures as set forth below.
    The dates when use of the figures in revised Table 1 becomes 
mandatory in calculating cost disclosures for use in labeling and 
catalog sales of products covered by the Commission's rule and/or EPCA 
are as follows:
    For 1996 Submissions of Data Under Section 305.8 of the 
Commission's Rule: Manufacturers no longer need to use the DOE cost 
figures in complying with the data submission requirements of section 
305.8 of the rule. Pursuant to amendments to the rule published on July 
1, 1994 \3\ (with extended compliance dates published on December 8, 
1994),\4\ the estimated annual operating cost is no longer the primary 
energy usage descriptor for refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, 
freezers, clothes washers, dishwashers, and water heaters. Under the 
amendments, the energy usage and the ranges of comparability for those 
product categories must be expressed in terms of estimated annual 
energy consumption (kilowatt-hour use per year for electricity, therms 
per year for natural gas, or gallons per year for propane and oil). 
Thus, the 1996 (and all subsequent) data submissions under section 
305.8 for these product categories (which are to enable the Commission 
to publish ranges of comparability) must be made in terms of estimated 
annual energy consumption, for the determination of which the DOE cost 
figures are unnecessary. The 1996 (and all subsequent) submissions also 
must be made in terms of the new product sub-categories created by the 
above-mentioned amendments. The energy efficiency energy usage 
descriptors for the other products covered by the rule (room air 
conditioners, furnaces, boilers, central air conditioners, heat pumps, 
and pool heaters) are unaffected by the amendments mentioned above. The 
annual data submission requirements for those products, which are not 
based on the DOE cost figures, will continue to be in terms of energy 
efficiency (although submissions for room air conditioners, furnaces, 
and boilers must be made in terms of the new product sub-categories 
created by the amendments). For convenience, the annual dates for data 
submission are repeated here:

    \3\ 59 FR 34014.
    \4\ 59 FR 63688.
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Fluorescent lamp ballasts: March 1
Clothes washers: March 1
Water heaters: May 1
Furnaces: May 1
Room air conditioners: May 1
Pool Heaters: May 1
Dishwashers: June 1
Central air conditioners: July 1
Heat pumps: July 1
Refrigerators: August 1
Refrigerator-freezers: August 1
Freezers: August 1

    For Labeling and Catalog Sales of Products Covered by the 
Commission's Rule: The July 1, 1994, amendments require that labels for 
refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, freezers, clothes washers, 
dishwashers, water heaters, and room air conditioners contain a 
secondary energy usage disclosure in terms of an estimated annual 
operating cost (labels for clothes washers and dishwashers will show 
two such secondary disclosures--one based on operation with water 
heated by natural gas, and one on operation with water heated by 
electricity). The labels must also disclose, below the secondary 
estimated annual operating cost disclosure, the fact that the estimated 
annual operating cost is based on the appropriate DOE energy cost 
figure and identify the year in which the cost figure was published.\5\ 
Manufacturers of refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, freezers, 
clothes washers, dishwashers, and room air conditioners began making 
these disclosures on the labels required by the amendments and in 
catalogs beginning ninety days after the Commission published new 
energy consumption ranges of comparability based on the 1995 
submissions required by Sec. 305.8. They must continue to use the 1995 
DOE cost figures until the Commission publishes new ranges of 
comparability based on future annual submissions of estimated annual 
energy consumption data. At that time, these manufacturers must use the 
then-current DOE energy cost figures when they prepare new labels in 
response to the new energy consumption ranges of comparability. When 
such new ranges are published, the effective date for 

[[Page 5680]]
labeling new products will be ninety days after the publication of the 
ranges in the Federal Register. Similarly, manufacturers of storage-
type water heaters, who began to comply with the amendments in 1994, 
used the 1994 DOE cost figures in determining the secondary energy use 
disclosures on the labels on their products. They must continue to use 
1994 cost figures to calculate these estimated annual operating cost 
figures on their labels until the Commission publishes new ranges of 
comparability for those products. As in the past, products that have 
been properly labeled prior to the effective date of any range 
modification need not be relabeled.

    \5\ The secondary estimated annual operating cost disclosures on 
the initial group of revised labels for storage-type water heaters 
are based on the 1994 DOE cost figures that were published by the 
Commission on February 8, 1994 (59 FR 5699). The secondary estimated 
annual operating cost disclosures on the initial group of revised 
labels for refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, clothes washers, 
dishwashers, and room air conditioners are (or will be) based on the 
1995 DOE cost figures that were published by the Commission on 
February 17, 1995 (60 FR 9295).
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    For Energy Cost Representations Respecting Products Covered by EPCA 
but not by the Commission's Rule: Manufacturers of products covered by 
section 323(c) of EPCA, 42 U.S.C. 6293(c), but not by the Appliance 
Labeling Rule (clothes dryers, television sets, kitchen ranges and 
ovens, and space heaters) must use the 1996 representative average unit 
costs for energy in all operating cost representations beginning May 
14, 1996.

List of Subjects in 16 CFR Part 305

    Advertising, Energy conservation, Household appliances, Labeling, 
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

PART 305--[AMENDED]

    Accordingly, 16 CFR Part 305 is amended as follows:
    1. The authority citation for Part 305 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 6294.
    Section 305.9(a) is revised to read as follows:


Sec. 305.9  Representative average unit energy costs.

    (a) Table 1, below, contains the representative unit energy costs 
to be utilized for all requirements of this part.

        Table 1.--Representative Average Unit Costs of Energy for Five Residential Energy Sources (1996)        
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                                                                                                     Dollars per
              Type of energy                  In commonly used terms      As required by DOE test    million Btu
                                                                                 procedure               \1\    
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Electricity..............................  8.6 cents/kWh2 3...........  $0.086/kWh.................       $25.21
Natural Gas..............................  62.6 cents/therm \4\ or      0.000006626/Btu............         6.26
                                            $6.43/MCF 5 6.                                                      
No. 2 heating oil........................  .92/gallon \7\.............  0.00000663/Btu.............         6.63
Propane..................................  0.90/gallon \8\............  0.00000984/Btu.............         9.84
Kerosene.................................  1.00/gallon \9\............  0.00000739/Btu.............         7.39
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\1\ Btu stands for British thermal unit.                                                                        
\2\ kWh stands for kilowatt hour.                                                                               
\3\ 1 kWh=3,412 Btu.                                                                                            
\4\ 1 therm=100,000 Btu. Natural gas prices include taxes.                                                      
\5\ MCF stands for 1,000 cubic feet.                                                                            
\6\ For the purposes of this table, 1 cubic foot of natural gas has an energy equivalence of 1,027 Btu.         
\7\ For the purposes of this table, 1 gallon of No. 2 heating oil has an energy equivalence of 138,690 Btu.     
\8\ For the purposes of this table, 1 gallon of liquid propane has an energy equivalence of 91,333 Btu.         
\9\ For the purposes of this table, 1 gallon of kerosene has an energy equivalence of 135,000 Btu.              

Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 96-3263 Filed 2-13-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-M