Stove Credit Eliminated in House Budget Bill
As feared, the wood stove and wood pellet appliance tax credit—initially signed into law by President Trump during his first administration in the COVID Relief spending bill and later extended in the Inflation Reduction Act—has been eliminated in a House Budget Bill released earlier this week. These tax credits, along with credits for electric vehicles, heat pumps, solar panels, high-efficiency hot water heaters and boilers, windows, and doors, will be eliminated to raise tax revenues as a Republican-controlled Congress seeks to balance the federal budget. The bill that emerged from the House Ways and Means Committee can pass without a single Democratic vote via the budget reconciliation process, but cannot survive more than a handful of Republican defectors.
The Pellet Fuels Institute Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Committee is strategizing an advocacy approach for the Senate, but the prospects of saving these credits in the context of a Congress committed to reining in federal spending will be difficult. I have included a number of news stories about the reconciliation bill in the Industry News section of this Pellet Wire, being careful to include media outlets across the political spectrum. I invite and encourage you to read them all. The news is certainly disappointing, but not unexpected based on our advocacy work and the conversations we have had with our colleagues in other associations that are tracking and following this credit.
Still Waiting on February EIA Data
The monthly data release for the pellet industry’s Monthly Densified Biomass Fuel Report, which has been released predictably on the first business day of the month for years, has been delayed once again this month. The PFI is monitoring this situation closely, as the data set is heavily relied upon by manufacturers and pellet retailers alike. Inquiries within the EIA reveal that staffing turbulence is causing some delays.
This report is a vital piece of how the PFI explains its overall impact to the broader forest products sector, to policymakers, allied industries, and our retail partners, to say nothing of the marketplace intelligence (sales, inventory, production) it provides our manufacturer members. As this situation continues to develop, the PFI may well find itself adding “Preserve the Monthly Densified Biomass Fuel Report” to its legislative and policy affairs agenda. We need that data.
