[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5075 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5075

To direct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to prohibit covered 
  utilities from recovering covered expenses from ratepayers, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 28, 2023

    Ms. Castor of Florida (for herself, Mr. Casten, and Mr. Bowman) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                          Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To direct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to prohibit covered 
  utilities from recovering covered expenses from ratepayers, 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 ``Ethics in Energy Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Centralized service company.--The term ``centralized 
        service company'' has the meaning given the term in section 
        367.1(a) of title 18, Code of Federal Regulations (or a 
        successor regulation).
            (2) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal 
        Energy Regulatory Commission.
            (3) Covered expense.--The term ``covered expense'' means a 
        direct or indirect expense paid by a covered utility to--
                    (A) an external entity to perform political 
                influence activities;
                    (B) a centralized service company, parent company, 
                or other corporate affiliate--
                            (i) to perform a political influence 
                        activity; and
                            (ii) that invoices that covered utility for 
                        the expenses related to that political 
                        influence activity; or
                    (C) an employee of that covered utility, in the 
                form of a salary, that performs a political influence 
                activity.
            (4) Covered utility.--The term ``covered utility'' means--
                    (A) an electric utility company (as defined in 
                section 367.1(a) of title 18, Code of Federal 
                Regulations (or a successor regulation)) that had, in 
                each of the 3 previous calendar years, sales or 
                transmission services that exceeded--
                            (i) 1,000,000 megawatt-hours of total 
                        annual sales;
                            (ii) 100 megawatt-hours of annual sales for 
                        resale;
                            (iii) 500 megawatt-hours of annual power 
                        exchanges delivered; or
                            (iv) 500 megawatt-hours of annual wheeling;
                    (B) a major natural gas company; and
                    (C) a centralized service company.
            (5) Major natural gas company.--The term ``major natural 
        gas company'' means a natural-gas company (as defined in 
        section 2 of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717a)) whose 
        combined gas transported or stored for a fee exceed 50,000,000 
        Dth in each of the 3 previous calendar years.
            (6) Political influence activity.--The term ``political 
        influence activity'' includes--
                    (A) any expense for the purpose of directly or 
                indirectly influencing the possible--
                            (i) adoption of Federal, State, or local 
                        regulations, legislation, or ordinances; or
                            (ii) repeal or modification of existing 
                        Federal, State, or local regulations, 
                        legislation, or ordinances;
                    (B) any expense for the purpose of directly or 
                indirectly influencing elections or appointments of 
                public officials or referenda;
                    (C) any expense for the purpose of directly or 
                indirectly influencing the approval, modification, or 
                revocation of utility franchises;
                    (D) any expense for the purpose of directly or 
                indirectly influencing the public opinion with respect 
                to Federal, State, or local--
                            (i) regulations, legislation, or 
                        ordinances;
                            (ii) elections;
                            (iii) referenda; or
                            (iv) utility rate setting;
                    (E) any expense for the purpose of directly or 
                indirectly influencing the decisions of Federal, State, 
                or local government officials;
                    (F) any expense relating to attendance or 
                participation in, preparation for, or appeal of any 
                formal proceeding before a regulatory commission;
                    (G) dues or fees paid to trade associations or 
                industry associations;
                    (H) any contributions or other payments to an 
                organization described in paragraph (3) or (4) of 
                section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; 
                and
                    (I) advertising, marketing, or public relations 
                expenses designed for the purpose of--
                            (i) influencing public opinion;
                            (ii) increasing goodwill toward a covered 
                        utility from the public or from public 
                        officials;
                            (iii) improving the reputation of a covered 
                        utility; or
                            (iv) promoting or retaining the service 
                        provided by a covered utility.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION AGAINST RECOVERING POLITICAL ACTIVITY EXPENSES FROM 
              RATEPAYERS.

    (a) Regulations.--Not later than 18 months after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Commission shall promulgate regulations--
            (1) to prohibit covered utilities from recovering covered 
        expenses from ratepayers in proceedings before the Commission, 
        in accordance with this section; and
            (2) to amend the applicable Uniform System of Accounts in 
        title 18, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor 
        regulations), to instruct covered utilities to place covered 
        expenses in accounts that are presumptively not recoverable 
        from ratepayers, in accordance with this section.
    (b) Report.--
            (1) In general.--The Commission shall require that, not 
        later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, 
        and annually thereafter, each covered utility shall submit to 
        the Commission a report containing--
                    (A) an itemized list of expenses of the preceding 
                year recorded in accounts relating to--
                            (i) covered expenses;
                            (ii) outside services or vendors; and
                            (iii) the operations of the covered utility 
                        with respect to administrative and general 
                        expenses; and
                    (B) for each expense or cost described in clauses 
                (i) through (iii) of subparagraph (A), unredacted 
                information with respect to each of the matters 
                described in paragraph (2) that are applicable to that 
                expense or cost.
            (2) Matters described.--The matters referred to in 
        paragraph (1)(B) for the expenses and costs described in 
        clauses (i) through (iii) of paragraph (1)(A) are the 
        following:
                    (A) Billing amounts.
                    (B) Billing dates.
                    (C) The identity of each payee for any external 
                consultants or contracts.
                    (D) In the case of a payment made to a third-party 
                vendor by a centralized service company, parent 
                company, or other corporate affiliate of the covered 
                utility, the identity of that third-party vendor.
                    (E) The job title, portion of salaries, and 
                expenses of covered utility staff with respect to any 
                work performed relating to a covered expense.
                    (F) An explanation of the expense or cost that is 
                sufficient to describe the purpose of the expense or 
                cost.
            (3) Reporting minimum removed.--With respect to any annual 
        form that a covered utility submits to the Commission having a 
        reporting threshold of $250,0000, the Commission shall remove 
        that reporting threshold for the reporting of transactions with 
        associated or affiliated companies on that annual form.
    (c) Enforcement.--
            (1) In general.--The Commission shall monitor and 
        investigate compliance and noncompliance with the regulations 
        promulgated under this section.
            (2) Penalty.--
                    (A) In general.--In addition to any refunds that 
                the Commission orders a covered utility to pay 
                ratepayers, the Commission shall assess a penalty in 
                accordance with subparagraph (B) against a covered 
                utility that violates or fails or refuses to comply 
                with the regulations promulgated under this section by 
                charging a ratepayer a covered expense.
                    (B) Amount of penalty.--
                            (i) In general.--Subject to clause (ii), a 
                        penalty assessed under subparagraph (A) shall 
                        be--
                                    (I) for a covered expense charged 
                                to ratepayers in an amount less than 
                                $1,000,000, not less than the amount of 
                                that covered expense;
                                    (II) for a covered expense charged 
                                to ratepayers in an amount not less 
                                than $1,000,000 and not more than 
                                $10,000,000, not less than double the 
                                amount of that covered expense; and
                                    (III) for a covered expense charged 
                                to ratepayers in an amount more than 
                                $10,000,000, not less than triple the 
                                amount of that covered expense.
                            (ii) Limitation.--The amount of a penalty 
                        assessed under subparagraph (A) shall be not 
                        more than 20 times the amount of the applicable 
                        covered expense.
            (3) No recovery from ratepayers.--Covered utilities that 
        are subject to a penalty under this subsection may not recover 
        that penalty from ratepayers.
            (4) Penalty distribution.--With respect to each penalty 
        assessed and collected under this subsection--
                    (A) \1/2\ of that penalty shall be distributed to 
                ratepayers, through a rebate; and
                    (B) \1/2\ of that penalty shall be distributed to 
                the Commission for the purpose of increasing resources 
                for enforcing this section.
            (5) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this Act prevents the 
        Commission from issuing refunds or rebates to ratepayers for a 
        covered expense that was recovered by a covered utility on a 
        date before the date of enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>