[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1936 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1936

To promote competition in the area of digital energy management tools, 
enhance consumer access to electric energy and natural gas information, 
   allow for the development and adoption of innovative products and 
services to help consumers, organizations, and governments manage their 
  energy usage, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and improve electric 
               grid reliability, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 13, 2023

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To promote competition in the area of digital energy management tools, 
enhance consumer access to electric energy and natural gas information, 
   allow for the development and adoption of innovative products and 
services to help consumers, organizations, and governments manage their 
  energy usage, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and improve electric 
               grid reliability, 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 ``Access to Consumer Energy 
Information Act'' or the ``E-Access Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Electric consumer.--The term ``electric consumer'' has 
        the meaning given the term in section 3 of the Public Utility 
        Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2602).
            (2) Electric meter app store.--The term ``electric meter 
        app store'' means the meter of an electric utility and any 
        accompanying software that allows the electric utility or 
        electric consumers to have software applications execute on the 
        grid edge computer in order to analyze or transmit retail 
        electric energy information or grid edge consumer insights.
            (3) Electric utility.--The term ``electric utility'' has 
        the meaning given the term in section 3 of the Public Utility 
        Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2602).
            (4) Gas consumer.--The term ``gas consumer'' has the 
        meaning given the term in section 302 of the Public Utility 
        Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (15 U.S.C. 3202).
            (5) Gas utility.--The term ``gas utility'' has the meaning 
        given the term in section 302 of the Public Utility Regulatory 
        Policies Act of 1978 (15 U.S.C. 3202).
            (6) Grid edge computer.--The term ``grid edge computer'' 
        means a device, whether part of, or separate from, a meter, 
        that--
                    (A) measures power, voltage, current, or other 
                aspects of electric energy at or near the premises of 
                an electric consumer; and
                    (B) is capable of running 1 or more software 
                applications to analyze, in real time, any measurement 
                described in subparagraph (A) in order to derive grid 
                edge consumer insights or information about the status 
                or operation of the electric grid.
            (7) Grid edge consumer insight.--The term ``grid edge 
        consumer insight'' means--
                    (A) the power, voltage, current, or other aspects 
                of electric energy measured and analyzable by a grid 
                edge computer; and
                    (B) any calculation, estimate, or inference from a 
                grid edge computer that pertains to, or reflects the 
                characteristics of, the use of electric energy by a 
                particular electric consumer.
            (8) Meter.--The term ``meter'' means a device that measures 
        and records energy usage data at any interval.
            (9) Retail electric energy information.--The term ``retail 
        electric energy information'' means--
                    (A) the electric energy usage of an electric 
                consumer over a time interval, as measured and recorded 
                by the applicable meter;
                    (B) the retail electric energy prices and 
                applicable rate applied to the electric energy usage 
                for the time interval described in subparagraph (A) for 
                the electric consumer;
                    (C) the costs of service provided to an electric 
                consumer, as displayed on billing information provided 
                to that electric consumer at the level of each line 
                item;
                    (D) in the case of nonresidential electric meters, 
                any other electrical information that the meter is 
                programmed to record that is used for billing purposes 
                (such as demand measured in kilowatts, voltage, 
                frequency, current, and power factor);
                    (E) grid edge consumer insights; and
                    (F) customer-specific information including, at a 
                minimum--
                            (i) customer name, mailing address, 
                        premises address, contact information, payment 
                        history, and account number; and
                            (ii) any information that may be necessary 
                        for participation in, or to determine customer 
                        eligibility for, bill payment assistance, 
                        renewable energy, demand-side management, load 
                        management, or energy efficiency programs.
            (10) Retail natural gas information.--The term ``retail 
        natural gas information'' means--
                    (A) the natural gas usage of a gas consumer, as 
                measured and recorded by the applicable gas utility;
                    (B) the retail natural gas prices and applicable 
                rate applied to the natural gas usage described in 
                subparagraph (A) for the gas consumer;
                    (C) the cost of service provided to a gas consumer, 
                as displayed on billing information provided to that 
                gas consumer at the level of each line item;
                    (D) in the case of nonresidential natural gas 
                meters, any other information that the meter is 
                programmed to record that is used for billing purposes; 
                and
                    (E) customer-specific information including, at a 
                minimum--
                            (i) customer name, mailing address, 
                        premises address, contact information, payment 
                        history, and account number; and
                            (ii) any information that might be 
                        necessary for participation in, or to determine 
                        customer eligibility for, bill payment 
                        assistance, demand-side management, or energy 
                        efficiency programs.
            (11) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Energy.
            (12) State energy office.--The term ``State energy office'' 
        means the office or agency of a State responsible for 
        developing the State energy conservation plan for the State 
        under section 362 of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 
        U.S.C. 6322).

SEC. 3. CONSUMER ACCESS TO ELECTRIC ENERGY AND NATURAL GAS INFORMATION.

    (a) Eligibility for State Energy Plans.--Section 362(d) of the 
Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6322(d)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (17), by striking ``and'' after the 
        semicolon at the end;
            (2) by redesignating paragraph (18) as paragraph (19); and
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (17) the following:
            ``(18) programs to promote competition in the area of 
        digital energy management tools--
                    ``(A) to enhance consumer access to, and 
                understanding of, electric energy and natural gas usage 
                and cost information, including, with respect to each 
                particular customer--
                            ``(i) the residential and commercial retail 
                        electric energy information (as defined in 
                        section 2 of the E-Access Act) of that 
                        customer; and
                            ``(ii) the retail natural gas information 
                        (as defined in that section) of that customer;
                    ``(B) to facilitate the development and adoption of 
                innovative products and services to assist consumers in 
                managing energy consumption and expenditures; and
                    ``(C) to increase the adoption of measured, 
                performance-based energy efficiency and demand response 
                programs, such as a program described in section 50121 
                of Public Law 117-169 (commonly known as the `Inflation 
                Reduction Act of 2022') (42 U.S.C. 18795); and''.
    (b) Guidelines for Electric Consumer and Gas Consumer Access.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
        enactment of this Act and subject to paragraph (2), the 
        Secretary shall issue guidelines that establish model data 
        sharing standards and policies for States to provide electric 
        consumers and gas consumers, and third-party designees of those 
        electric consumers and gas consumers, with access to retail 
        electric energy information and retail natural gas information.
            (2) Consultation.--Before issuing guidelines under 
        paragraph (1), the Secretary shall--
                    (A) consult with--
                            (i) State and local regulatory authorities;
                            (ii) other appropriate Federal agencies, 
                        including the National Institute of Standards 
                        and Technology and the Federal Trade 
                        Commission;
                            (iii) consumer and privacy advocacy groups;
                            (iv) electric utilities and gas utilities;
                            (v) the National Association of State 
                        Energy Officials; and
                            (vi) other appropriate entities, including 
                        groups representing public utility commissions, 
                        commercial and residential building owners, 
                        residential contractors, and groups that 
                        represent demand response and electricity data 
                        devices and services; and
                    (B) provide notice and opportunity for comment.
            (3) State and local regulatory action.--In issuing 
        guidelines under paragraph (1), the Secretary, to the maximum 
        extent practicable, shall be guided by actions taken by State 
        and local regulatory authorities to ensure electric consumer 
        and gas consumer access to retail electric energy information 
        and retail natural gas information, including actions taken 
        after consideration of the standard established under section 
        111(d)(19) of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 
        1978 (16 U.S.C. 2621(d)(19)).
            (4) Contents.--In carrying out paragraph (1), the Secretary 
        shall include--
                    (A) guidelines specifying that retail electric 
                energy information and retail natural gas information 
                of an electric consumer or a gas consumer should be 
                made available to the electric consumer or gas consumer 
                (or a third-party designee of the electric consumer or 
                gas consumer) by the electric utility or gas utility of 
                the electric consumer or gas consumer (or such other 
                entity as may be designated by the utility), in 
                consultation with, or with approval from, as 
                applicable, the applicable retail regulatory authority 
                of the utility;
                    (B) guidelines regarding the timeliness and 
                specificity of retail electric energy information and 
                retail natural gas information to be made available to 
                an electric consumer or a gas consumer (or a third-
                party designee of an electric consumer or a gas 
                consumer), including that the retail electric energy 
                information and retail natural gas information should 
                be made available--
                            (i) in an electronic machine-readable form, 
                        without additional charge, in conformity with 
                        nationally recognized open standards and best 
                        practices;
                            (ii) via a website or other electronic 
                        access authorized by the electric consumer or 
                        gas consumer, including at least 24 months of 
                        historical information;
                            (iii) in as close to real-time as is 
                        reasonably practicable;
                            (iv) at the level of specificity that the 
                        data are transmitted by the meter or grid edge 
                        computer, to the extent reasonably practicable; 
                        and
                            (v) in a manner that provides adequate 
                        protections for the security of the information 
                        and the privacy of the electric consumer or gas 
                        consumer, utilizing recognized energy data 
                        privacy programs such as the DataGuard Energy 
                        Data Privacy Program of the Department of 
                        Energy or other programs approved by the 
                        Secretary;
                    (C) guidelines regarding appropriate nationally 
                recognized open standards for data exchange;
                    (D) guidelines regarding consumer consent 
                requirements to ensure that an electric consumer or gas 
                consumer can conveniently and securely authorize a 
                third-party designee to access the retail electric 
                energy information or retail natural gas information of 
                that electric consumer or gas consumer, including 
                standardized authorization language to which an 
                electric consumer or gas consumer will agree prior to 
                the electric consumer or gas consumer authorizing, or 
                the applicable electric utility or gas utility sharing, 
                retail electric energy information or retail natural 
                gas information of that electric consumer or gas 
                consumer;
                    (E) guidelines specifying that electric utilities 
                and gas utilities should, when a meter is servicing an 
                electric consumer or gas consumer, communicate retail 
                electric energy information or retail natural gas 
                information to the device of the electric consumer or 
                gas consumer or through the network of an electric 
                consumer or gas consumer to a third-party designee of 
                the electric consumer or gas consumer;
                    (F) with respect to the terms and conditions to be 
                agreed to by a third-party designee of an electric 
                consumer or a gas consumer and an electric utility or a 
                gas utility for access to the retail electric energy 
                information or retail natural gas information of that 
                electric consumer or gas consumer, guidelines 
                specifying that--
                            (i) those terms and conditions shall be 
                        reasonable and nondiscriminatory;
                            (ii) those terms and conditions shall not 
                        require anything of a third-party designee 
                        beyond requiring--
                                    (I) the third-party designee to 
                                provide to the electric utility or gas 
                                utility--
                                            (aa) the contact 
                                        information and Federal tax 
                                        identification number of the 
                                        third-party designee; and
                                            (bb) an acknowledgment of 
                                        compliance with a privacy 
                                        requirement, such as the 
                                        DataGuard Energy Data Privacy 
                                        Program of the Department of 
                                        Energy; and
                                    (II) that the third-party designee 
                                has not been disqualified by the 
                                applicable retail regulatory authority 
                                of the utility;
                            (iii) due process shall be afforded to the 
                        third-party designee by the applicable 
                        regulatory authority, including by giving the 
                        third-party designee an opportunity to rebut 
                        allegations of wrongdoing by that third-party 
                        designee prior to any enforcement action being 
                        taken by the applicable regulatory authority;
                            (iv) the online authorization process 
                        offered by the applicable gas utility or 
                        electric utility to the consumer shall be user-
                        friendly, and the personal information required 
                        to establish identity shall be consistent with, 
                        and no more onerous than, the standard 
                        practices of the applicable gas utility or 
                        electric utility; and
                            (v) the third party may receive retail 
                        electric energy information and retail natural 
                        gas information from an electric utility or gas 
                        utility with consumer consent, except if 
                        otherwise prohibited by Federal law or by a 
                        finding of a State court or other State 
                        adjudicatory body;
                    (G) guidelines specifying that electric utilities 
                and gas utilities shall provide certification of 
                adherence to the latest Green Button Connect My Data 
                standard by an independent body on a periodic interval, 
                as recommended by the Secretary;
                    (H) guidelines specifying that Green Button Connect 
                My Data system availability shall exceed 99-percent 
                availability without severe errors or defects;
                    (I) guidelines specifying that electric utilities 
                and gas utilities shall report on a publicly available 
                website the timeliness and performance of the 
                processing of electronic data-sharing authorizations 
                and the timeliness of completing third-party 
                administrative and technical onboarding with an 
                electric utility or gas utility, including 
                recommendations from the Secretary as to whether 
                electric utilities and gas utilities, or State or 
                Federal agencies, should host such publicly available 
                websites;
                    (J) guidelines specifying that--
                            (i) electric meter app stores shall have 
                        terms that are fair, reasonable, and 
                        nondiscriminatory to any user;
                            (ii) software developers and distributed 
                        energy resources that use electric meter app 
                        stores or retail electric customer information 
                        shall--
                                    (I) have access to platform 
                                software documentation; and
                                    (II) be afforded due process rights 
                                with regard to disputes concerning 
                                functionality;
                            (iii) owners or operators of electric meter 
                        app stores shall address fair competition 
                        issues, including self-preferencing, 
                        surveillance of competitive software 
                        applications, and undue use of default software 
                        applications that have the effect of reducing 
                        consumer choices; and
                            (iv) electric meter app stores shall 
                        include metrics for applicable retail 
                        regulatory authorities to require of electric 
                        utilities, including, at a minimum--
                                    (I) system availability;
                                    (II) number and type of errors and 
                                the severity of those errors; and
                                    (III) time expended to conduct 
                                technical software reviews; and
                    (K) guidelines addressing appropriate circumstances 
                in which analysis of retail electric energy 
                information, retail natural gas information, and 
                estimates of energy saved as a result of any efficiency 
                measure may be released publicly, without the consent 
                of the consumer, only by protection of individual 
                consumer privacy via mathematical methods such as 
                differential privacy, or by alternative means at the 
                discretion of the Secretary, if required, that prevent 
                reidentification of the attributes of individual 
                consumers when publishing aggregate information.
            (5) Revisions.--Every 3 years, the Secretary shall review 
        and, as necessary, revise the guidelines issued under paragraph 
        (1) to reflect changes in technology, privacy needs, and the 
        market for electric energy and natural gas and related 
        services.
    (c) Verification and Implementation.--
            (1) In general.--A State energy office may submit to the 
        Secretary a description of the policies of the State relating 
        to electric consumer and gas consumer access to retail electric 
        energy information and retail natural gas information for 
        certification by the Secretary that the policies meet the 
        guidelines issued under subsection (b).
            (2) Assistance.--Subject to the availability of amounts 
        appropriated pursuant to paragraph (3), the Secretary shall 
        make amounts available to any State that has policies described 
        in paragraph (1) that the Secretary certifies meet the 
        guidelines issued under subsection (b) to assist the State in 
        implementing programs described in paragraph (18) of section 
        362(d) of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 
        6322(d)) (as amended by subsection (a)).
            (3) Authorization of appropriations.--There is authorized 
        to be appropriated to carry out this subsection $10,000,000 for 
        fiscal year 2023, to remain available until expended.
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