H.R. 9340

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9340 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 9340

To amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to 
establish a Federal standard relating to the recovery of the full, 
incremental costs of upgrades that serve large-load customers, and for 
other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

June 18, 2026

Mr. Evans of Colorado (for himself and Ms. Castor of Florida) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to 
establish a Federal standard relating to the recovery of the full, 
incremental costs of upgrades that serve large-load customers, and for 
other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Ratepayer Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. FEDERAL STANDARD RELATING TO LARGE-LOAD CUSTOMERS.

(a) Federal Standard Relating to Large-load Customers.--Section 
111(d) of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 
2621(d)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(22) Standards for large-load customers.--
``(A) Recovery of full, incremental cost of 
upgrades.--A rate charged, or entered into, by an 
electric utility for providing electric service to a 
large-load customer shall be designed to recover from 
the large-load customer the full, incremental cost of 
any generation, transmission, or distribution upgrade 
necessary to serve the load of such large-load 
customer, including in the event of such large-load 
customer terminating a contract or other agreement with 
the electric utility pertaining to the sale of electric 
energy, or otherwise ceasing the purchase of electric 
energy from the electric utility.
``(B) Financial assurances and contributions.--
Before making any generation, transmission, or 
distribution upgrade that is necessary to serve the 
load of a large-load customer, an electric utility 
shall require the large-load customer provide to the 
electric utility financial assurances or contributions 
to cover the cost of such upgrade.
``(C) Large-load customer defined.--In this 
paragraph, the term `large-load customer' means a non-
residential electric consumer that, on or after the 
date of the enactment of this paragraph, requests to 
enter into, or enters into, a contract or other 
agreement pertaining to the sale of electric energy for 
one or more facilities that have, in the aggregate, a 
peak electric demand of 100 megawatts or more at a 
single site or campus.''.
(b) Conforming Amendments.--
(1) Obligations to consider and determine.--Section 112 of 
the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 
2622) is amended--
(A) in subsection (b), by adding at the end the 
following:
``(9)(A) Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 
of this paragraph, each State regulatory authority (with 
respect to each electric utility for which the State has 
ratemaking authority) and each nonregulated electric utility 
shall commence consideration under section 111, or set a 
hearing date for consideration, with respect to the standard 
established by paragraph (22) of section 111(d).
``(B) Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of 
this paragraph, each State regulatory authority (with respect 
to each electric utility for which the State has ratemaking 
authority) and each nonregulated electric utility shall 
complete the consideration and make the determination under 
section 111 with respect to the standard established by 
paragraph (22) of section 111(d).'';
(B) in subsection (c)--
(i) by striking ``subsection (b)(2)'' and 
inserting ``subsection (b)''; and
(ii) by inserting ``In the case of the 
standard established by paragraph (22) of 
section 111(d), the reference contained in this 
subsection to the date of enactment of this Act 
shall be deemed to be a reference to the date 
of enactment of that paragraph (22).'' after 
``paragraph (21).''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(i) Other Prior State Actions.--Subsections (b) and (c) shall not 
apply to the standard established by paragraph (22) of section 111(d) 
in the case of any electric utility in a State if, before the date of 
enactment of this subsection--
``(1) the State has implemented for the electric utility 
the standard (or a comparable standard);
``(2) the State regulatory authority for the State or the 
relevant nonregulated electric utility has conducted a 
proceeding to consider implementation of the standard (or a 
comparable standard) for the electric utility; or
``(3) the State legislature has voted on the implementation 
of the standard (or a comparable standard) for the electric 
utility.''.
(2) Prior and pending proceedings.--Section 124 of the 
Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2634) 
is amended by adding at the end the following: ``In the case of 
the standard established by paragraph (22) of section 111(d), 
the reference contained in this section to the date of 
enactment of this Act shall be deemed to be a reference to the 
date of enactment of that paragraph (22).''.
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