California TV Energy Regulation Cleared by Office of Administrative Law

The California Office of Administrative Law late Wednesday approved the state’s TV energy standards, dashing CE industry hopes of seeing the regulation stalled on procedural grounds. Industry had contended that the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) procedures in adopting the regulations were flawed. Industry is weighing various options, including litigation, sources said. Accusing the CEA of “misleading” other states about the fate of California’s TV regulations, environmental activists said OAL clearance would provide added impetus to efforts to get similar measures adopted in other states next year. The California standards go into effect in two phases -- January 2011 and January 2013.

Litigation and legislation to rescind the regulations are options for industry, said a CE executive. “There also could be some additional administrative opportunities” to keep the standards from going into effect in January 2011, he said. A federal TV standard could also preempt California’s regulations, he said, conceding however that the state could still seek a waiver if it wanted to enforce a more stringent standard. California recently got a waiver for a fuel efficiency standard for cars, he said. There has already been informal discussion on pursuing a legal challenge in the event of OAL approval, said another industry source.

With OAL’s approval of the standards, the “ultimate winners are the California consumers who will save money and conserve energy when purchasing new energy efficient TVs,” said CEC Chairman Karen Douglas. “Today’s approval signals a continuation of the Energy Commission’s strong, historic role for providing smart energy policy” for California, she said.

The CE Retailers Coalition will “continue to look at options to serve the interests of consumers in California,” said Christopher McLean, the coalition’s executive director. The regulation is “bad for California consumers,” he said. The industry was banking on the OAL either amending the regulations or offering what the industry saw as improvements because “we certainly felt that the proceedings were flawed and that alternatives weren’t considered,” McLean said. Engineering and scientific factors weren’t considered either, he said. The CEA declined to discuss next steps. Douglas Johnson, CEA vice president of technology policy, would say only that OAL’s review was “quite limited and by statute does not address many of the important issues the regulation presents for California consumers and our industry."

The CEC’s “process was extremely thorough and transparent throughout,” and the commission “fulfilled its procedural requirements,” said Noah Horowitz, senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. With about 400 TVs in the market already meeting the 2013 standards, “we fail to see any substantive basis for any ongoing industry opposition to these standards,” he said: “These complying models come from a wide range of manufacturers and are available in all sizes and with all the latest features, including models that can display 3D images and connect directly to the Internet."

The CEA asked legislators in Washington and other states weighing TV standards this year not to “act too fast” because California’s regulations weren’t a done deal, said Jim O'Reilly, director of public policy at the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships. With OAL approval, the industry doesn’t have even this “specious argument” to dissuade action in other states, he said. California’s regulations, developed with “rigorous” R&D, should help other states “understand that what California has done is something that they could easily adopt for themselves and that the market is already starting to react to this,” O'Reilly said. Despite CEA’s saying that the regulations would be onerous for manufacturers, set makers were proclaiming that they will meet the standards and touting high-efficiency TVs at the CES, he said.

Plasma Display Coalition members aren’t surprised that the “procedural staff in California have rubber-stamped that state’s approach,” said Jim Palumbo, president of the coalition. “We maintain there is no need for regulation in a self motivated TV industry.” Plasma makers have “reduced energy consumption by more than 40 percent on their own -- without regulation -- for buyers in all 50 states,” he said. “That’s a testament to the industry’s drive toward energy reduction.” The LCD TV Association did not respond by our deadline to requests for comment.