Manufacturers and sellers of consumer products in California should be aware that the California Energy Commission (CEC) continues to bring more enforcement actions and assess large civil penalties for violations of its Title 20 Appliance Efficiency Program. At a time when federal appliance efficiency standard enforcement is expected to recede due to the recent election and looming transition, California enforcement is likely to continue to grow. Regulated businesses, therefore, need to pay increasing attention to Title 20 compliance, not only to avoid large fines but also to ensure continued access to their products in the lucrative California market. 

Over the past few years, CEC enforcement has focused largely, but not exclusively, on the computer, showerhead, and faucet and plumbing fittings categories, with CEC reaching dozens of settlements during that time. In recent weeks, CEC has announced eight new settlements regarding violations of its standards, certification, and marking requirements. Among them include the settlement California reached on December 2, 2024 with the computer manufacturer, ASUS, for $961,633 after ASUS allegedly sold computer desktops that did not meet efficiency standards. The ASUS settlement is the largest civil penalty assessed by CEC under Title 20 since it penalized iRobot $1 million in 2015. CEC also alleged that ASUS did not properly list battery chargers, desktops, and notebooks in the Modernized Appliance Efficiency Database System (MAEDbS). In late November, CEC settled for just over $360,000 with Aborder Products. Aborder Products sold showerheads that allegedly did not meet California efficiency standards and had not been correctly certified in the MAEDbS. CEC has also settled enforcement actions with manufacturers of light-emitting diodes, portable electric spas, and battery chargers, among other covered products. Critically, these settlements provide that all non-compliant products must be brought into compliance before they can again be marketed in California.

Background on Title 20 Appliance Efficiency

CEC’s Title 20 Appliance Efficiency Program establishes minimum efficiency standards for a wide range of appliances and equipment sold or offered for sale in California, including consumer, commercial and industrial appliances and equipment not already federally regulated. Covered products must meet specific energy and water efficiency criteria, must be certified in California’s MAEDbS prior to offering for sale, and meet product-specific marking/labeling requirements. Because California is typically the first state to regulate new product categories, adopts the most stringent standards, and has the most fully-developed certification and compliance scheme of any state, many other states adopt California requirements by reference and rely on California’s certification system to ensure ongoing compliance. For this reason, non-compliance in California can mean non-compliance in a host of other states. 

CEC Enforcement

CEC also has the most rigorous enforcement program of any state, under which it can assess penalties of up to $2500 per violation (with each non-compliant unit sold, and each day a covered product is not certified) considered a single violation. CEC rarely, in practice, assesses the maximum penalty it is authorized to assess. Indeed, penalties can be adjusted at the discretion of CEC based on factors such as the severity of the violation and the potential impact on energy and water savings. CEC typically works with manufacturers to resolve issues through mutual settlements rather than through administrative or civil proceedings (although it has the authority to pursue such relief if a settlement cannot be reached).

CEC also has the authority to order manufacturers and retailers to cease selling non-compliant products in California until the non-compliance has been resolved. This injunctive relief can, and often does, dwarf the impact of any imposed civil penalty. 

CEC’s Office of Compliance Assistance and Enforcement ensures that appliances meet the established energy and water efficiency standards through a comprehensive approach that includes targeted product testing, external reports (e.g., from business competitors or consumer groups), and self-disclosures.

Looking Ahead to 2025 and Beyond

While a drop in federal enforcement of appliance and equipment standards under the incoming Trump administration is anticipated, California is expected to pick up some of the resulting slack. CEC will often pick product categories for new standards development that are identified as major consumers of energy and which the U.S. Department of Energy has not yet acted to regulate. Also, because California requires manufacturers to certify certain products even though they are federally-regulated, California can even enforce some non-compliances that the U.S. Department of Energy declines to enforce. 

While the large majority of state-level enforcement has historically occurred in California, that may soon change. A downturn in new standards development and enforcement by U.S. DOE during the first Trump administration prompted a number of states (among them, Maine, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Vermont, Nevada, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and others) to either develop or significantly expand their own appliance efficiency programs and to devote new resources to enforcement. Enforcement is more difficult to track in many of these states, because, unlike California, they do not maintain public databases of all settled enforcement actions, but early indications are that these states are building out their enforcement programs to ensure compliance. New York, for example, has enacted rules and empowered the New York Department of State to enforce its appliance efficiency standards. In other states, such as Colorado, the State Attorney General is authorized to pursue civil enforcement actions regarding non-compliance with state efficiency standards.