[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 10804 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                               H. R. 10804

   To establish penalties for the failure of investor-owned electric 
              utilities to meet State performance targets.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 13, 2026

Mr. Riley of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred 
                to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To establish penalties for the failure of investor-owned electric 
              utilities to meet State performance targets.

    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 ``Utility Accountability Act''.

SEC. 2. PENALTIES FOR FAILURE OF INVESTOR-OWNED ELECTRIC UTILITIES TO 
              MEET STATE PERFORMANCE TARGETS.

    (a) Certification of Audits.--Each State regulatory authority that 
annually audits whether investor-owned electric utilities, with respect 
to which the State regulatory authority has ratemaking authority, meet 
State performance standards shall annually certify to the Secretary 
whether each such investor-owned electric utility meets such standards 
for the year, as determined by the State regulatory authority.
    (b) Penalties.--
            (1) Bill credits.--
                    (A) In general.--If a State regulatory authority 
                certifies under subsection (a) that an investor-owned 
                electric utility, with respect to which the State 
                regulatory authority has ratemaking authority, failed 
                to meet State performance standards for a year, the 
                Secretary shall order the State regulatory authority to 
                direct the investor-owned electric utility that did not 
                meet State performance standards to, beginning in the 
                following year, annually provide to each residential 
                customer of the investor-owned electric utility a bill 
                credit until the investor-owned electric utility meets 
                State performance standards.
                    (B) Amount of bill credits.--The amount of the bill 
                credit provided to a residential customer under 
                subparagraph (A) for a year shall be--
                            (i) equal to $100 for the first year; and
                            (ii) increased by $100 each year.
                    (C) Prohibition on passing costs onto residential 
                customers.--An investor-owned electric utility that 
                provides bill credits to residential customers of the 
                investor-owned electric utility as required by 
                subparagraph (A) shall charge the investors of the 
                investor-owned electric utility to pay for the cost of 
                providing such bill credits.
            (2) Withholding of assistance.--If a State regulatory 
        authority fails to comply with an order of the Secretary under 
        paragraph (1)(A), the Secretary may withhold providing 
        assistance, including grants, loans, loan guarantees, and 
        technical assistance, to such State regulatory authority until 
        the State regulatory authority complies with the order.
    (c) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Ratemaking authority; state regulatory authority.--The 
        terms ``ratemaking authority'' and ``State regulatory 
        authority'' have the meanings given such terms, respectively, 
        in section 3 of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 
        1978 (16 U.S.C. 2602).
            (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Energy.
            (3) State performance standards.--The term ``State 
        performance standards'' includes electric reliability standards 
        and electric safety standards.
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