State Takes Their Hands Off Our Thermostats

After the hue and cry in the blogosphere and resulting media coverage, the California Energy Commission ran away from their plan to require new buildings to have thermostats that could be controlled by the bureaucrats. Here's the official announcement (h/t American Thinker):

There has been considerable discussion concerning programmable communicating thermostats (PCT) and their proposed inclusion in the regulations for the 2008 building standards.

On January 15, 2008, the Energy Commission's Efficiency Committee (Commissioner Rosenfeld and Chairman Pfannenstiel) directed that PCTs be removed from the proposed 2008 energy efficiency building standards.

The Committee also asked that the value and concerns related to the potential application of PCTs be considered with other demand response technologies in the Energy Commission's Load Management proceeding that began recently. Moving the evaluation of the PCT to the Load Management proceeding provides a venue for a broader discussion on the PCT technology and how it could be used with future utility tariff and rate programs. It also provides an opportunity for a full examination by consumers, utilities and manufacturers regarding the benefits and consumer choice options for demand response technologies. It is important that consumers have the ability to opt out of or into demand response programs, such as those involving the PCT.

The Energy Commission strongly supports demand response strategies, and believes that the programmable communicating thermostat offers a valuable tool to dampen peak electricity use. Demand response strategies are an important alternative to building costly new power plants that only operate during peak demand times of the year.

Technology can be a powerful tool in managing our energy use. However, it is of utmost importance that consumers make their own energy decisions.

Had the bureaucrats really believed that last paragraph, they never would have tried to enact that policy in the first place.