The Hidden Costs of Regulation

When regulations rain, they apparently poor. Much of our industry is scrapping to decipher the recently released HCFC phaseout proposed regulations so it could be easy to forget that the US DOE is in the process of its own rulemaking to review the efficiency standards for residential a/c and heat pumps, which includes the potential for regional efficiency standards.

This week, distributor members of HARDI's HCFC Task Force have devoted hours to reviewing the EPA's two proposed rules. Today, HARDI's A/C and Heat Pump Rulemaking Task Force spent two hours on a conference call with the DOE to explain wholesale distribution's role in the HVAC industry and how equipment standards- especially regionalized standards- would impact distributors. By the way, the DOE asked us for this meeting after HARDI had suggested during another meeting in D.C. last summer that DOE's characterization of the distribution channel was inaccurate.

The cost associated with regulatory processes is substantial, but the more we get into these issues, the more I am amazed at the potential costs of doing nothing.