NAHB supports latest transformer legislation
The National Association of Home Builders said it applauds the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s support of legislation that will help ease the shortage of distribution transformers.
The Protecting America’s Distribution Transformer Supply Chain Act (H.R. 4167) is expected to 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 NAHB said.
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.
The NAHB NAHB reiterated its support for this legislation in a letter to committee chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wa.).
“On behalf of the more than 140,000 members of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), I am writing to express our strong support for H.R. 4167, the Protecting America’s Distribution Transformer Supply Chain Act,” wrote Lake Coulson, NAHB senior vice president and chief lobbyist.
Coulson also noted that NAHB members continue to experience supply chain delays.
“Other key inputs to construction, however, including distribution transformers, continue to experience significant lead times and threaten current and future development,” Coulson said in the letter. “NAHB members report that wait times for transformers often range from 12 to 24 months, and in some isolated cases the lag time approaches 3 years. “
The lack of transformers on the market has forced thousands of home building projects to be put on hold.
Additionally, Coulson pointed to prices of transformers seeing an increase of as much as 85% since 2018.
The association said it will continue to work with Congress to seek additional funding to boost production of distribution transformers to meet market demand.
