House Moves Forward on NAHB-Supported Transformer Bill

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has approved NAHB-supported legislation that will help ease the shortage of distribution transformers.

H.R. 4167, the Protecting America’s Distribution Transformer Supply Chain Act, would ensure certainty for transformer manufacturers as they seek to repair and strengthen a broken distribution transformer supply chain that has delayed home construction projects across the country and aggravated the nation’s housing affordability crisis.

The legislation would repeal the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) authority to propose, finalize, implement, administer or enforce any energy efficiency standard for distribution transformers for the next five years. The DOE has proposed to increase the energy conservation standards for the production of transformers, an action that NAHB strongly opposes because it will exacerbate an already acute supply-chain shortage.

NAHB reiterated its support for this legislation in a letter, sharing that “NAHB members report that wait times for transformers often range from 12 to 24 months, and in some isolated cases, the lag time approaches three years. These delays are worsened by the fact that transformer prices have increased by 85 percent since the first quarter of 2018.”

NAHB will continue to work with Congress to seek additional funding to boost production of distribution transformers to meet market demand.