Ratepayer Protection Act

Jon Husted

Republican · OH · Senator

Source: Congress.gov · FEC

16 cosponsors on record at Congress.gov. The named list is syncing into Govwatch and will appear here shortly — view on Congress.gov in the meantime.

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

2026-07-16

Source: Congress.gov

Ratepayer Protection Act The bill requires state utility regulators and nonregulated utilities to consider implementing a standard to hold certain large-load customers responsible for the costs associated with any generation, transmission, or distribution upgrade of electric service necessary to serve such customers. A large-load customer means a non-residential electric consumer that enters, or requests to enter, an agreement concerning the sale of electric energy primarily to operate information technology infrastructure and related systems pertaining to data storage and computational applications and services (e.g., data centers) that have a peak electric demand of 100 megawatts or more at a single site or campus. Specifically, the bill requires states to consider implementing a federal standard for large-load customers. The standard must require rates charged by electric utilities for providing electric service to a large-load customer to be designed to recover from the large-load customer the full, incremental cost of any generation, transmission, or distribution upgrade necessary to serve such customer. This rate must include the costs that would be incurred if the large-load customer terminates an agreement with the electric utility pertaining to the sale of electric energy or otherwise ceases the purchase of energy from the electric utility. Under the standard, an electric utility must require the large-load customer to provide to the utility financial assurances or contributions to cover the cost of any generation, transmission, or distribution upgrade that is necessary to serve the load of a large-load customer before the utility makes any generation, transmission, or distribution upgrade.

Plain-English rewrite of the Congressional Research Service summary published on Congress.gov. Cached and reviewed.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [S. 5028 Introduced in Senate (IS)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 5028 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES July 16, 2026 Mr. Husted introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources _______________________________________________________________________ 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) In General.--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) Definition of large-load customer.--In this paragraph, the term `large-load customer' means a non- residential electric consumer that, on or after the date of 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-- ``(i) require electric energy primarily to operate information technology infrastructure and related systems pertaining to data storage and computational applications and services; and ``(ii) have, in the aggregate, a peak electric demand of 100 megawatts or more at a single site or campus. ``(B) 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 the large-load customer-- ``(i) terminating a contract or other agreement with the electric utility pertaining to the sale of electric energy; or ``(ii) otherwise ceasing the purchase of electric energy from the electric utility. ``(C) 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.''. (b) Obligations To Consider and Determine.--Section 112 of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2622) is amended-- (1) 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).''; (2) in subsection (c)-- (A) in the first sentence, by striking ``subsection (b)(2)'' and inserting…

``subsection (b)''; and (B) 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 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).''; and (3) 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.''. (c) 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).''. <all>

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