March 10, 2011
WASHINGTON – Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, today urged members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to support new lighting standards scheduled to go in to effect next year, highlighting the cost saving benefits for consumers through the new standards. The push comes in response to recent legislative efforts by lawmakers to repeal the standards that would require increased energy efficiency in light bulbs and other appliances.
Shannon Baker–Branstetter, Policy Counsel for Consumers Union, explained, “The standards passed in 2007 and scheduled to go into effect January 1, 2012, are estimated to save consumers billions of dollars in energy costs over the coming years. In addition, improved minimum standards of efficiency help reduce utility bills that many new homeowners and renters encounter when they didn’t have the option to select cost-effective lighting or appliances, helping to ease the strain on their pocketbook.”
Consumers Union sent a letter to the committee in advance of today’s hearing. The letter was signed by the organization and fellow consumer groups Consumer Federation of America, National Consumers League, the National Consumer Law Center on behalf of its low-income consumers, and Public Citizen.
In addition to its call for supporting lighting standards, CU urged lawmakers to continue to move efficiency standards forward, not backward.
“We hope that the EnergyStar program and efficiency standards for appliances continue to improve,” Baker-Branstetter said.
More information about today’s Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee hearing to discuss S.395 and S.398 is available on the committee’s web site: http://1.usa.gov/hIsAow
For a copy of the full letter, click here.