[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1231 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1231

    To amend the Federal Power Act to establish a system for market 
  participants, regulators, and the public to have access to certain 
   information about the operation of electricity power markets and 
                         transmission systems.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 24, 2001

 Mr. Wyden (for himself and Mr. Burns) introduced the following bill; 
   which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                           Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Federal Power Act to establish a system for market 
  participants, regulators, and the public to have access to certain 
   information about the operation of electricity power markets and 
                         transmission systems.

    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 ``Electricity Information, Disclosure, 
Efficiency, and Accountability Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    Section 3 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 796) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
            ``(26) Bulk-power system.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `bulk-power system' 
                means all facilities and control systems necessary for 
                operating an interconnected transmission grid or any 
                portion of an interconnected transmission grid.
                    ``(B) Inclusions.--The term `bulk-power system' 
                includes--
                            ``(i) high-voltage transmission lines, 
                        substations, control centers, communications, 
                        data, and operations planning facilities 
                        necessary for the operation of all or any part 
                        of the interconnected transmission grid;
                            ``(ii) energy exchanges associated by law 
                        or contract with system operators and used to 
                        determine dispatch priority; and
                            ``(iii) the output of generating units 
                        necessary to maintain bulk-power system 
                        reliability.
            ``(27) Bulk-power system operating data.--The term `bulk-
        power system operating data' means--
                    ``(A) transmission line and generation facility 
                data necessary for a system operator to ascertain--
                            ``(i) available transmission line capacity;
                            ``(ii) transmission line capacity 
                        constraints; and
                            ``(iii) supply and demand for electrical 
                        energy; and
                    ``(B) other relevant operating data that is 
                available to the system operator and used to maintain 
                bulk-power system reliability.
            ``(28) Bulk-power system reliability.--The term `bulk-power 
        system reliability' means the degree of performance of a bulk-
        power system that results in the delivery of electricity to 
        purchasers within industry standards and in the amount 
        necessary to maintain adequacy and security of the bulk-power 
        system.
            ``(29) Bulk-power system user.--The term `bulk-power system 
        user' means an entity that--
                    ``(A) sells, purchases, or transmits electric power 
                over a bulk-power system; or
                    ``(B) owns, operates, or maintains facilities or 
                control systems that are part of a bulk-power system.
            ``(30) Market-bid data.--The term `market-bid data' means 
        the price, amount, and delivery location of electric power 
        offered by a bidder in a competitive bidding or price auction 
        process that is used to schedule or allocate use of the bulk-
        power system transmission capacity or to maintain bulk-power 
        system reliability.
            ``(31) System operator.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `system operator' means 
                an entity that operates or is responsible for the 
                operation of a bulk-power system.
                    ``(B) Inclusions.--The term `system operator' 
                includes--
                            ``(i) a control-area operator;
                            ``(ii) an independent system operator;
                            ``(iii) a security coordinator;
                            ``(iv) a regional transmission 
                        organization;
                            ``(v) a transmission company; and
                            ``(vi) a transmission system operator.''.

SEC. 3. DISCLOSURE OF BULK-POWER SYSTEM DATA.

    Section 213 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824l) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
    ``(c) Bulk-Power System Data.--
            ``(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date 
        of enactment of this subsection, the Commission shall 
        promulgate a regulation requiring that each system operator 
        establish an information system that provides, in a 
        standardized format, all users of the bulk-power system, State 
        regulatory authorities, and the public access, including access 
        on the Internet,--
                    ``(A) to bulk-power system operating data; and
                    ``(B) in the case of a system operator that uses a 
                competitive bidding or price auction process conducted 
                by the system operator or by an energy exchange 
                associated by law or contract with the system operator 
                that is used to schedule or allocate use of the bulk-
                power system transmission capacity or to maintain bulk-
                power system reliability, to market-bid data.
            ``(2) Protection of commercially sensitive data.--
                    ``(A) Petition by bulk-power system user.--A bulk-
                power system user may petition the Commission to keep 
                data subject to disclosure under paragraph (1) 
                confidential due to its commercially sensitive nature.
                    ``(B) Determination by the commission.--On 
                receiving a petition under subparagraph (A), the 
                Commission shall--
                            ``(i) determine whether there is good cause 
                        for keeping the data confidential; and
                            ``(ii) if good cause is found under clause 
                        (i), instruct the system operator--
                                    ``(I) not to disclose the data; or
                                    ``(II) to disclose the data only 
                                after a time period specified by the 
                                Commission after which the data are no 
                                longer commercially sensitive.
            ``(3) Provision of real time data.--A system operator shall 
        make all bulk-power system operating data available to all 
        users of the bulk-power system on a real time basis, updated 
        hourly to reflect changes to data in the aggregate.
            ``(4) Disclosure of identity of bidders.--A system operator 
        or energy exchange shall be required to disclose the identity 
        of a bidder only to State regulatory authorities and other 
        authorized Federal or State agencies acting in an official 
        capacity on motion filed with the Commission demonstrating that 
        the authority or agency is conducting an investigation within 
        the jurisdiction of the authority or agency.''.
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