if the economics and/or contractual arrangement of crucial home equipment benefit a corporate profile, you can bet that some number of people will get those units -- usually people who do not have a choice, or do not understand the whole deal. This kind of degradation of the consumer and their rights is going on at a wide scale.

Another way to say this is "the consumer does not matter at this point" .. meaning that the game plan and expansion of the central corporate (or govt) operation is "more important" than the consumer benefit or choice.

Sadly, more than one thing can be true at once. If dramatic energy savings are "required" due to real structural problems, and also the well-capitalized and aggressive central entity can negotiate and implement the changes.. then it is a collective social situation.. End result - many advantages that small home owners have enjoyed in the USA for so long, are going away in real time right now, on a large scale.