Every Gold Medallion Home includes at least four major electric appliances to bring you the joy of total electric living from the day you move in. The heart of a Gold Medallion There's Light for Living. There's Housepower a-plenty. Your new home should Delma elmarva INVESTOR-OWNED BUSINESS-NANAGED PowerLight Company Hon. JOHN D. Dingell, BETHANY BEACH, DEL., May 13, 1968. Chairman, Subcommittee on Regulatory and Enforcement Agencies, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: I hope that the Subcommittee may find the following brief case history useful for the record in its study of "Promotional Practices by Public Utilities and Their Impact Upon Small Business." Considering the purchase of my retirement home to be one of the most important transactions in my affairs it became the subject of a very careful survey I made three years ago. I had been conditioned by dozens of institutional advertisements of the public utility industry and the electrical manufacturers so that I put great reliance on their "Gold Medallion" which they described as an "award" amounting to assurance of "complete electrical living." First, as I now realize, the Gold Medallion tended to operate against the small builders in favor of the larger ones, since only the larger ones could afford the special advertising and literature to tie in with the utilities' national advertising. This might have been simply a fair manifestation of the free enterprise system If the implied assurances of the Gold Medallion had worked out. The fact is that the Gold Medallion assurance played a major role in my buying from a big builder-and then the great electrically heated house has frozen up in each of the three winters I have had it. We citizens tend to rely on the promotional representations of the great public utilities. One reason is that we assume that they are subject to considerable government regulation. It appears that more regulation or more enforcement, or both, is called for. Sincerely, HERBERT E. STATS. MANASSAS, Va., June 4, 1968. Hon. JOHN D. Dingell, House Office Building, Washington, D.C. SIR: Mr. Herbert Edwards appeared before your committee recently in connection with the Gold Medallion Seal. I would like to add my comments to his testimony. I purchased an ocean front home from DFD builder in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, three years ago. I was told these homes were Gold Medallion Homes which meant that, because they were electrically heated, they were all year homes. This is not the case. It is impossible to use my home during the winter months because of poor construction and an inefficient heating system. It is so poorly constructed that, even with all heating units on, pipes still freeze. Repeated efforts to have the situation corrected with DFD has proved a complete waste of time and money. As I see it the Gold Medallion is a sales gimmick used to the considerable advantage of DFD. Sincerely, BYRON C. WOODSIDE, D.D.S. NEMA Pub. No. HE 1-1966 NEMA MANUAL FOR ELECTRIC COMFORT HEATING A Basic Guide for the Design of Electric Heating Installations (Approved as Authorized Engineering Information 1-6-1966.) NATIONAL ELECTRICAL MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION 155 EAST 44th STREET NEW YORK, N. Y. 10017 309 History of NEMA The first trade association in the electrical manufacturing industry started in 1905 with the Electrical Manufacturers Alliance, which changed its name immediately to Electrical Manufacturers Club. In 1908, the American Association of Electric Motor Manufacturers was formed, which changed its name to Electric Power Club in 1910 and which changed its scope to include generators as well as motors and, later, to include other forms of electrical apparatus. Early in its career, the Electric Power Club became active in standardization. In 1915, the Associated Manufacturers of Electrical Supplies came into existence. One of its stated purposes was "to promote the standardization of electrical material." Its scope covered devices and materials entering into electrical construction work. In 1916, the Electrical Manufacturers Council, consisting of representatives of each of the three organizations mentioned above, was formed. In 1926, the Electric Power Club and the Associated Manufacturers of Electrical Supplies were merged into the National Electrial Manufacturers Association, and the Electrical Manufacturers Council was dissolved. One of the stated objectives of the new organization reads: "To promote the standardization of electrical apparatus and supplies." NEMA is the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, a non-profit trade association of manufacturers of electrical apparatus and supplies. It is engaged in standardization to facilitate understanding between the manufacturers and users of electrical products. NEMA is divided into numerous subdivisions, each covering a group of related apparatus or supplies. Each such subdivision carries on a definite program standardization along with its numerous other activities. of NEMA STANDARDS PUBLICATIONS Please consult NEMA Headquarters for further information concerning NEMA Standards Publications. A descriptive booklet entitled "Your Guide to NEMA Standards Publications" is available upon request. 1966 National Electrical Manufacturers Association |