On February 25, 2026, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Don’t Mess with my Home Appliances Act, 217-190 with bipartisan votes. HARDI applauds the passage of legislation to repeal the use of the date of installation as the compliance deadline for regional energy efficiency standards.

“Using the date of installation for compliance is terrible policy; it is worse when Congress requires an agency to use it, and it’s nearly unfathomable when only one product requires it, while all others use the date of manufacture,” said Alex Ayers, Vice President of Government Affairs. “Moving regional standards from date of installation to date of manufacture helps distributors, contractors, and manufacturers to move to newer energy-efficient equipment.”

When Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, it required compliance with regional energy efficiency standards based on the date equipment is installed, rather than the date it is manufactured or imported. Installation-date triggers create uncertainty for distributors and contractors managing inventory purchased prior to a regulatory deadline.

“House passage is just the first step in fixing this important issue. HARDI members have lobbied on this issue for several years at our annual Congressional Fly-in, and we will continue to talk about this issue with the Senate to encourage ending the use of installation dates,” continued Ayers.