3 percent price hikes to take effect

Carrier brand air-conditioners, other UTC home products to cost more

UTC Climate, Controls & Security on Monday announced a 3 percent price hike on brands including Carrier, which makes airconditioning systems.

The news release, from United Technologies’ new $115 million UTC Center for Intelligent Buildings in Palm Beach Gardens, says:

“UTC Climate, Controls & Security, which manufactures products under the Carrier, Bryant, Payne and ICP brand names, announces a price increase of up to 3 percent on residential and commercial heating, ventilating and air-conditioning equipment. It will be implemented effective simply [Sept. 10].”

There was no mention of the Trump administration’s tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum.

When asked about the price increase, Carrier Corp. spokesman Kris Nielsen said the increase “reflects the current economic conditions as well as the predicted conditions for the balance of the year. We continue to see material expense increases in commodities, transportation, and other related costs of doing business.”

In March, UTC CEO Greg Hayes criticized the tariffs at a meeting with industry analysts in Palm Beach Gardens, saying the policy could lead to a trade war.

“Let’s just be very clear. We think these tariffs are a bad idea,” Greg Hayes said, according to The Hartford Courant, a sister newspaper of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

During UTC’s second-quarter conference call on July 24, Hayes told analysts that the price of steel was up 25 percent, and aluminum and copper are up about 14 percent.

“Tariffs don’t help,” Hayes said, also pointing to increased labor costs related to a shortage in the United States and Europe.

“I think the key will be our ability to continue to push price in the marketplace as these input costs go up,” Hayes told analysts during the call.

United Technologies also owns and operates jet-engine developer Pratt & Whitney in northwestern Palm Beach County.