Competitive Enterprise Institute, (CEI)

While this may not be a world burning issue it is certainly one that demonstrates how all –encompassing Big Brother has become. It’s about dishwashers. Yes, dishwashers.

Because of government interference in the market. Because of regulations dictating what manufacturers can build and what consumers must accept, dishwashers are less efficient and generally “crappier” than they were for our grandparents. And, to change that situation requires a full-fledged regulatory process, including a bureaucratic comment period necessitating that consumers say “yes” they want better performing dishwashers.

According to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, (CEI)  citizens have until October 16 to submit comments on a proposed rule to allow the production of more efficient dishwashers.

Mind you, this regulatory change does not eliminate the regulatory barriers that exist for industry and consumers, but it allows the Department of Energy to create a NEW CATEGORY of dishwashers, featuring faster models that will at least give consumers freedom of choice.

DOE proposed the rule, in response to a March 2018 CEI petition, which would allow for a new class of dishwashers that would need only an hour to finish a cycle. This is in contrast to today’s dishwashers, which can take more than two hours due to the government’s so-called efficiency regulations. According to a GE Appliances survey of 11,000 dishwasher owners, slow cycle time is one of the four biggest sources of dissatisfaction for consumers. Last year, thousands of consumers sent comments to DOE in support of CEI’s petition.

Anyone can file a comment on DOE’s new proposed rule by visiting cei.org/dishwashers.

It all began in 1987, when Congress directed the Department of Energy to issue efficiency standards for appliances. Over the years the agency’s rules have gotten tighter and more complicated.  In some cases they may have improved things, but at other times they’ve messed things up. 

If “high-efficiency” dishwashers are so great, then we don’t need laws forcing us to buy them.  Why not let consumers decide for themselves? queries CEI.

Fortunately, the law allows the Department of Energy to create a new category of dishwashers that work as fast as the old ones. This wouldn’t eliminate today’s “high-efficiency” models, but it would give consumers the freedom to choose what kind of dishwasher they want.