A court ruling that favored the Biden administration’s get-tough approach to regulating natural gas appliances has been tossed out by the Supreme Court.
The court issued an order Monday that requires the appellate court that made the ruling to reconsider the case.
“The judgment is vacated, and the case is remanded to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for further consideration in light of the position asserted by the Solicitor General in his brief for the United States filed on April 28, 2026,” the order said.
As noted by Scotusblog, “The case is a challenge to a set of December 2021 rules that interpreted the Energy Policy Conservation Act to adopt standards for furnaces and water heaters that the members of the gas industry say ‘will force millions of Americans with gas appliances to either renovate their homes or switch to electric appliances.’”
Could President Biden ban gas-fired furnaces and water heaters? In a big win for @TheJusticeDept (and new Chevron GC Scott Keller), the Supreme Court vacates the D.C. Circuit saying yes and remands to reconsider. Big win for American consumers and working appliances. pic.twitter.com/HUNCSRp7wJ
— Eric W. (@EWess92) June 8, 2026
In the brief referenced by the court, Solicitor General D. John Sauer said the Department of Energy currently believes the rules at the root of the case “rest on a legal error,” according to Politico’s EE News.
Sauer said the department is reviewing efficiency rules on furnaces and water heaters to consider whether they are an “undue burden” on “domestic energy resources,” Sauer said.
Sauer said sending the case back to the lower court “would permit the court of appeals to take account of those developments and the Department’s revised position in the first instance, including by potentially holding this case in abeyance pending a new rulemaking.”
The decision represents a significant win for the American Gas Association and similar industry groups.
“We welcome the Supreme Court’s decision to protect the American people from this unlawful regulation that would increase costs for families and businesses and ban an entire class of appliances,” Karen Harbert, president and CEO of the association, said in a statement.
“We will continue to work to ensure all Americans can make choices about the energy and appliances in their homes,” the statement said.
The Biden rules would have banned the manufacture of noncondensing furnaces in 2028, requiring homeowners and businesses to face “significant structural modifications,” the association claimed.
The trade groups claimed the Biden administration broke the rules in the Energy Policy and Conservation Act that banned the elimination of certain performance features.
The American Gas Association had said that “Non-condensing furnaces, which make up approximately 55 percent of the market for natural gas furnaces in the United States, cannot be replaced by other furnace types.”
Phasing them out “would saddle families with costly renovations or eliminate gas as a home heating option altogether,” the group said on its website.
“Public natural gas utilities believe Americans should have the right to install or replace home appliances that use the energy source of their choice,” Dave Schryver, President and CEO of the American Public Gas Association, said in a state on the American Gas Association website.
“These choices should not require costly retrofits that effectively force consumers to switch energy sources,” he said.
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