[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2196 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2196

To amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to provide 
for disclosure to consumers of the fuels and sources of electric energy 
       purchased from electric utilities, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 7, 2007

 Mr. Reyes (for himself, Mr. Markey, Mr. Inslee, Ms. Herseth Sandlin, 
 and Ms. Schakowsky) 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 provide 
for disclosure to consumers of the fuels and sources of electric energy 
       purchased from electric utilities, 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 ``Knowledge Is Power Act'' .

SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF ELECTRIC ENERGY SOURCES BY ELECTRIC UTILITIES.

    (a) Disclosure Standard.--Section 111(d) of the Public Utility 
Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2621(d)) is amended by 
adding the following at the end:
            ``(16) Disclosure of electric energy sources.--Each 
        electric utility shall disclose to consumers on their periodic 
        billing statement the percentage mix of energy technologies and 
        fuels used to generate the electricity sold within the 
        distribution utility's distribution area. In describing such 
        mix, each such utility shall disclose the percentage of 
        electricity generated from coal, from gas, from nuclear, from 
        any other fuel, and from any particular type (including solar, 
        wind, biomass, landfill gas, ocean tidal, ocean wave, ocean 
        current, ocean thermal, geothermal, municipal solid waste, or 
        hydroelectric) of renewable energy (as defined in section 
        203(b)(2) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005). Such disclosure 
        shall be printed in such manner as to gives it prominence on 
        the statement.''.
    (b) Compliance.--
            (1) Time limitations.--Section 112(b) of the Public Utility 
        Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2622(b)) is amended 
        by adding at the end the following:
            ``(6)(A) Not later than 1 year after the enactment of this 
        paragraph, each State regulatory authority (with respect to 
        each electric utility for which it has ratemaking authority) 
        and each nonregulated utility shall commence the consideration 
        referred to in section 111, or set a hearing date for 
        consideration, with respect to the standard established by 
        paragraph (16) of section 111(d).
            ``(B) Not later than two years after the date of the 
        enactment of the this paragraph, each State regulatory 
        authority (with respect to each electric utility for which it 
        has ratemaking authority), and each nonregulated electric 
        utility, shall complete the consideration, and shall make the 
        determination, referred to in section 111 with respect to each 
        standard established by paragraph (16) of section 111(d).''.
            (2) Failure to comply.--ection 112(d) of the Public Utility 
        Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2622(c)) is amended 
        by adding at the end the following: ``In the case of the 
        standard established by paragraph (16), 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 
        paragraph (16).''.
            (3) Prior state actions.--
                    (A) In general.--Section 112 of the Public Utility 
                Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2622) is 
                amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(g) Prior State Actions.--Subsections (b) and (c) of this section 
shall not apply to the standard established by paragraph (16) of 
section 111(d) in the case of any electric utility in a State if, 
before the enactment of this subsection--
            ``(1) the State has implemented for such utility the 
        standard concerned (or a comparable standard);
            ``(2) the State regulatory authority for such State or 
        relevant nonregulated electric utility has conducted a 
        proceeding to consider implementation of the standard concerned 
        (or a comparable standard) for such utility; or
            ``(3) the State legislature has voted on the implementation 
        of such standard (or a comparable standard) for such 
        utility.''.
                    (B) Cross reference.--Section 124 of such Act (16 
                U.S.C. 2634) is amended by adding the following at the 
                end thereof: ``In the case of each standard established 
                by paragraph (16) of section 111(d), the reference 
                contained in this subsection to the date of enactment 
                of the Act shall be deemed to be a reference to the 
                date of enactment of paragraph (16).''.
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