Starting on January 1st of 2023 the Department of Energy (DOE) is imposing new energy requirements on all HVAC manufacturers, which will apply to all brands. This change will alter how equipment is tested in order to push for higher minimum efficiency standards. To help unpack this a little bit, an air conditioner built in 2022 with an efficiency rating of 16 SEER will be less efficient than an air conditioner built in 2023 with an efficiency rating of 16 SEER. This new rating is called SEER2 in order to help distinguish between the old similarly named rating which was known as just SEER.
This has forced all manufacturers to redesign their equipment in order to satisfy the new more stringent efficiency ratings.
What can this mean for you? Equipment in 2023 will be slightly more efficient with the same SEER2 rating versus the original SEER rating. Along with that comes a significant increase in manufacturing cost due to the re-engineering of all new equipment. Significant price changes will occur regardless of the system, manufacturer, or dealer you choose because all units in the US must be changed.
If you are considering replacing an aging system it may be beneficial to consider moving forward with it before 2023 in order to avoid the increases. Manufacturers at present are looking to empty out inventory as they seek to make space for the newly engineered equipment that they will be working with. Costs on the new equipment has been projected to see somewhere between a 10% to a possible 40% increase in cost.
A trend we are also seeing are gaps in equipment stocks forming due to the phasing out of the previous system designs which will not be allowed to be manufactured after crossing over into the new year. If you believe that you may be nearing the end of your equipment’s life you may be able to avoid a sharp price hike coming in the new year by acting a bit sooner.