[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5964 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5964
To require the Secretary of Energy, acting through the Office of
Electricity, to publish guidelines and best practices for integrated
resource planning of the electricity system, provide technical
assistance with respect to such guidelines and best practices, and
develop a grant program for modernizing integrated resource planning,
and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 7, 2025
Ms. Leger Fernandez (for herself, Mr. Case, and Mr. Thanedar)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Energy, acting through the Office of
Electricity, to publish guidelines and best practices for integrated
resource planning of the electricity system, provide technical
assistance with respect to such guidelines and best practices, and
develop a grant program for modernizing integrated resource planning,
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 ``Integrated Resource Planning
Modernization Act''.
SEC. 2. DEVELOPMENT OF GUIDELINES AND BEST PRACTICES FOR ELECTRIC
UTILITY INTEGRATED RESOURCE PLANNING.
(a) In General.--The Secretary, in consultation with State public
utility commissions, State energy offices, owners or operators of
electric utilities (including investor-owned utilities, municipal
utilities, and electric cooperatives), balancing area authorities,
Transmission Organizations, and other relevant stakeholders, shall
develop guidelines and best practices for integrated resource planning
of the electricity system.
(b) Requirements.--
(1) Key issues.--The guidelines and best practices
developed under subsection (a) shall address key issues related
to integrated resource planning. In developing the guidelines
and best practices, the Secretary shall consider, at a minimum,
the following issues, while retaining discretion to incorporate
additional considerations and to refine the scope, level of
detail, and implementation approaches for each issue as
appropriate:
(A) Developing capacity expansion modeling and
resource adequacy analysis in an iterative manner to
improve integrated resource planning by ensuring the
expanded electricity system achieves resource adequacy
while minimizing costs.
(B) The consideration of a wide range of
alternatives for capacity expansion models to meet
resource adequacy targets, including the traditional
expansion of electricity generation and transmission
capacity and the use of novel grid-enhancing
technologies, small and large-scale storage,
distributed energy resources, behind-the-meter
interventions, and demand-side interventions.
(C) Explicit consideration of electric transmission
in capacity expansion modeling and its contribution to
resource adequacy and reliability of electricity
systems.
(D) The use of an interregional planning approach
in capacity expansion modeling to evaluate the resource
adequacy benefits of capacity resource sharing across
regions, including through collaboration between
States, balancing area authorities, electric utilities,
Transmission Organizations, and other relevant
stakeholders.
(E) The integration of technical, financial, and
regulatory information from other fuel supply systems,
such as the natural gas network.
(F) The use of scenario analysis developed using
capacity expansion modeling and transmission expansion
modeling to represent a full range of future
characteristics of the electricity system, including
the availability of different electricity generating
and storage resources, and transmission infrastructure.
(G) The use of probabilistic models in resource
adequacy analysis to account for variability and
uncertainty in the supply and demand of electricity,
including the impact of extreme weather event
scenarios, forecasting errors, fuel prices, and other
uncertainties on such supply and demand.
(H) The use of historical weather data and forward-
looking meteorological projections, including with
respect to extreme weather event scenarios, to account
for the variability in electricity demand, electricity
generation from individual or groups of electricity
generators, and electricity system outages to assess
resource adequacy.
(I) The use of multiple resource adequacy metrics
for assessing resource adequacy to account for the
magnitudes, frequencies, and durations of potential
events that stress the electricity system.
(J) The use of scorecards that summarize the costs
and a wide range of benefits of scenarios developed
through the integrated resource planning process,
including--
(i) costs of infrastructure investments;
(ii) environmental sustainability;
(iii) resource adequacy and reliability;
(iv) economic impacts; and
(v) other costs and benefits that are
relevant to the decision-making objectives of
States, electric utilities, balancing area
authorities, Transmission Organizations, and
other relevant stakeholders.
(K) The use of rigorous mechanisms for capacity
accreditation to measure the capacity value of possible
investments that support resource adequacy, including--
(i) capacity values for both conventional
and emerging generation resources, including
distributed energy resources and behind-the-
meter interventions;
(ii) capacity values for demand-side
interventions; and
(iii) capacity values for transmission
infrastructure upgrades and grid-enhancing
technologies that enable the deliverability of
generating capacity from remote or otherwise
constrained generation resources.
(L) The use of probabilistic metrics to measure
capacity values that account for probability
distributions of the magnitudes, frequencies, and
durations of potential events that affect the
availability of--
(i) conventional and emerging generation
resources, behind-the-meter interventions, and
demand-side interventions; and
(ii) transmission infrastructure upgrades
and grid-enhancing technologies that enable the
deliverability of electricity from remote or
otherwise constrained generation resources.
(2) State treatment of integrated resource plans.--In
developing the guidelines and best practices under subsection
(a), the Secretary shall consider providing guidance on how
State public utility commissions and State energy offices may
review and respond to integrated resource plans, including
guidance on--
(A) opportunities for public engagement and
comment, including well-designed stakeholder
involvement processes with several opportunities for
feedback and transparent access to data inputs, models,
licenses, and other requirements for relevant
stakeholders to replicate modeling outputs from
integrated resource planning; and
(B) the connection between integrated resource
planning outcomes and regulatory actions, such as
procurement decisions, certificates of public
convenience and necessity, and general rate cases.
(c) Publication of Guidelines and Best Practices.--Not later than 2
years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall
publish on a publicly accessible website of the Department of Energy
the guidelines and best practices developed under subsection (a).
(d) Periodic Evaluations and Revisions.--The Secretary shall, not
less frequently than once every 5 years--
(1) evaluate the guidelines and best practices published
under this section; and
(2) revise such guidelines and best practices and publish
such revised guidelines and best practices in accordance with
this section.
SEC. 3. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.
The Secretary shall provide to State public utility commissions,
State energy offices, owners or operators of electric utilities,
balancing area authorities, Transmission Organizations, and other
relevant stakeholders training resources and technical assistance
(including workshops, training sessions, and education materials) to
increase understanding of the guidelines and best practices published
under section 2.
SEC. 4. INTEGRATED RESOURCE PLANNING MODERNIZATION GRANTS PROGRAM.
(a) Establishment.--The Secretary shall establish a program, to be
known as the ``Integrated Resource Planning Modernization Grants
Program'', under which the Secretary shall, subject to the availability
of appropriations, provide grants to States in accordance with this
section.
(b) State Implementation Plans.--
(1) In general.--A State may apply for a grant under the
Integrated Resource Planning Modernization Grants Program by
submitting to the Secretary a plan describing how the State
intends to use the grant in accordance with subsection (c).
(2) Progress report.--Not later than 2 years after a State
receives a grant under the Integrated Resource Planning
Modernization Grants Program, the State shall submit to the
Secretary a report describing how the grant has been used and
the progress the State has made--
(A) in the case of a vertically integrated State,
developing or updating the integrated resource planning
requirements, statutes, or regulations of the State;
and
(B) in the case of a restructured State,
coordinating with electric utilities, balancing area
authorities, and Transmission Organizations to develop
and implement a strategy to employ integrated resource
planning in the State.
(c) Use of Grants.--
(1) Vertically integrated states.--A vertically integrated
State that receives a grant under the Integrated Resource
Planning Modernization Grants Program--
(A) shall use the grant to--
(i) develop or update integrated resource
planning requirements, statutes, or regulations
of the State to be partly or fully consistent
with guidelines and best practices published
under section 2;
(ii) support regulated electric utilities
with complying with such requirements,
statutes, or regulations; and
(iii) support non-regulated electric
utilities (including municipal utilities and
electric cooperatives) that choose to
participate in integrated resource planning
that complies with such requirements, statutes,
or regulations; and
(B) may use the grant to--
(i) pay expenses associated with
consultants (including private consultants and
federally funded research and development
centers), staffing, software and modeling, and
stakeholder engagement activities necessary for
the State public utility commission and State
energy offices to develop or update integrated
resource planning requirements, statutes, or
regulations of the State as described in
subparagraph (A)(i); and
(ii) provide amounts to electric utilities,
balancing area authorities, and Transmission
Organizations, which may be used to recover the
costs of complying with such requirements,
statutes, or regulations.
(2) Restructured states.--A restructured State that
receives a grant under the Integrated Resource Planning
Modernization Grants Program--
(A) shall use the grant to coordinate with electric
utilities, balancing area authorities, and Transmission
Organizations to develop and implement a strategy to
employ integrated resource planning in the State that
is partly or fully consistent with the guidelines and
best practices published under section 2; and
(B) may use such grant to--
(i) pay expenses associated with
consultants (including private consultants and
federally funded research and development
centers), staffing, software and modeling, and
stakeholder engagement activities necessary for
the State to develop and implement a strategy
to employ integrated resource planning in the
State as described in subparagraph (A); and
(ii) provide amounts to electric utilities,
balancing area authorities, and Transmission
Organizations, which may be used to recover the
costs of implementing the strategy described in
subparagraph (A).
(d) First Applications.--A State may apply for a grant provided
under the Integrated Resource Planning Modernization Grants Program
beginning not later than 6 months after the initial publication of the
guidelines and best practices under section 2.
(e) Deadline To Use Grant.--A State that receives a grant provided
under the Integrated Resource Planning Modernization Grants Program
shall use such grant by not later than the date that is 5 years after
the date on which the State received the grant.
(f) Grant Formula.--The Secretary shall determine the amount of a
grant provided under the Integrated Resource Planning Modernization
Grants Program based on--
(1) whether the State already requires electric utilities
to employ integrated resource planning;
(2) the comprehensiveness of the State's implementation
plan submitted under subsection (b), including the extent to
which the implementation plan incorporates components of the
guidelines and best practices published under section 2;
(3) the number of electricity consumers in the State;
(4) the capacity and mix of electric generating and
transmitting infrastructure in the State;
(5) the number and diversity of electric utilities,
balancing area authorities, and Transmission Organizations
engaged in the electricity system planning and operation
activities of the State; and
(6) any other factor the Secretary determines appropriate
to support integrated resource planning.
SEC. 5. COORDINATION WITH OTHER FEDERAL PROGRAMS.
The Secretary may coordinate with other Federal programs related to
energy resilience and modernization of the electricity system to--
(1) maximize the impact of grants provided under the
Integrated Resource Planning Modernization Grants Program by
aligning efforts and avoiding duplication; and
(2) ensure that the guidelines and best practices published
under this Act complement and support other Federal initiatives
aimed at enhancing the resilience and reliability of
electricity systems.
SEC. 6. PERIODIC REPORTS.
Not later than 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act, and
not less frequently than once every 5 years thereafter, the Secretary
shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report that
includes the following:
(1) A description of how vertically integrated States and
restructured States used grants provided under the Integrated
Resource Planning Modernization Grants Program.
(2) A breakdown of the expenses paid using such grants.
(3) An assessment of the effectiveness of the use of the
grants in supporting the development of, and compliance with,
integrated resource planning that is partly or fully consistent
with the guidelines and best practices published under this
Act, including examples of best practices and innovative
approaches that were adopted.
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the
House of Representatives; and
(B) the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
of the Senate.
(2) Balancing area authority.--The term ``balancing area
authority'' means the responsible entity that--
(A) integrates resource plans in advance of real-
time operations;
(B) maintains the balance between electricity
demand, electricity supply, and scheduled interchange
within the geographic a