[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9340 Reported in House (RH)]
<DOC>
Union Calendar No. 713
119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 9340
[Report No. 119-814]
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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 18, 2026
Mr. Evans of Colorado (for himself and Ms. Castor of Florida)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Energy and Commerce
September 10, 2026
Additional sponsors: Mr. Van Drew, Mr. Joyce of Pennsylvania, Mr.
McCaul, Mr. Baumgartner, Mr. Fuller, Mr. Wittman, Mr. Onder, Ms.
Hageman, Mr. Kean, Mr. Van Orden, Mr. McGuire, Mr. Griffith, Mr.
Mackenzie, Mr. Bishop, Ms. McClellan, Mr. Gottheimer, Ms. Lee of
Florida, Mr. Cuellar, Mr. Cline, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Ms. McDonald Rivet,
Ms. Boebert, Mr. Lawler, Ms. Van Duyne, Mr. Finstad, Mr. Crank, Mr.
Moore of West Virginia, Mr. Carter of Georgia, Mr. Jordan, Mrs. Kiggans
of Virginia, Mr. Moolenaar, Mr. Weber of Texas, Mr. Smith of New
Jersey, Ms. Goodlander, Mr. Huizenga, Mr. Hurd of Colorado, Mr.
Valadao, Mr. Barrett, Ms. De La Cruz, Mr. Fallon, and Mr. Flood
September 10, 2026
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed
in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on June
18, 2026]
_______________________________________________________________________
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) Federal Standard Relating to Large-load Customers.--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) 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 such large-load
customer terminating a contract or other agreement with
the electric utility pertaining to the sale of electric
energy, or otherwise ceasing the purchase of electric
energy from the electric utility.
``(B) 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.
``(C) Large-load customer defined.--In this
paragraph, the term `large-load customer' means a non-
residential electric consumer that, on or after the
date of the 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) Conforming Amendments.--
(1) Obligations to consider and determine.--Section 112 of
the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C.
2622) is amended--
(A) 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).'';
(B) in subsection (c)--
(i) by striking ``subsection (b)(2)'' and
inserting ``subsection (b)''; and
(ii) by inserting ``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).'' after
``paragraph (21).''; and
(C) 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.''.
(2) 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).''.
Union Calendar No. 713
119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 9340
[Report No. 119-814]
_______________________________________________________________________
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.
_______________________________________________________________________
September 10, 2026
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed