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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 10804 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 10804
To establish penalties for the failure of investor-owned electric
utilities to meet State performance targets.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 13, 2026
Mr. Riley of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish penalties for the failure of investor-owned electric
utilities to meet State performance targets.
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 ``Utility Accountability Act''.
SEC. 2. PENALTIES FOR FAILURE OF INVESTOR-OWNED ELECTRIC UTILITIES TO
MEET STATE PERFORMANCE TARGETS.
(a) Certification of Audits.--Each State regulatory authority that
annually audits whether investor-owned electric utilities, with respect
to which the State regulatory authority has ratemaking authority, meet
State performance standards shall annually certify to the Secretary
whether each such investor-owned electric utility meets such standards
for the year, as determined by the State regulatory authority.
(b) Penalties.--
(1) Bill credits.--
(A) In general.--If a State regulatory authority
certifies under subsection (a) that an investor-owned
electric utility, with respect to which the State
regulatory authority has ratemaking authority, failed
to meet State performance standards for a year, the
Secretary shall order the State regulatory authority to
direct the investor-owned electric utility that did not
meet State performance standards to, beginning in the
following year, annually provide to each residential
customer of the investor-owned electric utility a bill
credit until the investor-owned electric utility meets
State performance standards.
(B) Amount of bill credits.--The amount of the bill
credit provided to a residential customer under
subparagraph (A) for a year shall be--
(i) equal to $100 for the first year; and
(ii) increased by $100 each year.
(C) Prohibition on passing costs onto residential
customers.--An investor-owned electric utility that
provides bill credits to residential customers of the
investor-owned electric utility as required by
subparagraph (A) shall charge the investors of the
investor-owned electric utility to pay for the cost of
providing such bill credits.
(2) Withholding of assistance.--If a State regulatory
authority fails to comply with an order of the Secretary under
paragraph (1)(A), the Secretary may withhold providing
assistance, including grants, loans, loan guarantees, and
technical assistance, to such State regulatory authority until
the State regulatory authority complies with the order.
(c) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Ratemaking authority; state regulatory authority.--The
terms ``ratemaking authority'' and ``State regulatory
authority'' have the meanings given such terms, respectively,
in section 3 of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of
1978 (16 U.S.C. 2602).
(2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Energy.
(3) State performance standards.--The term ``State
performance standards'' includes electric reliability standards
and electric safety standards.
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