119-hr1148

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1148 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 1148

To amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to require 
 States to consider prohibiting cost recovery related to smart grid 
 projects, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 February 7, 2025

 Mr. Van Drew introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

To amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to require 
 States to consider prohibiting cost recovery related to smart grid 
 projects, 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 ``Stop Misappropriating Ratepayer 
Tariffs for Excessive Resources Act'' or the ``SMARTER Act''.

SEC. 2. SMART GRID COST RECOVERY.

    (a) Consideration and Determination Respecting Certain Ratemaking 
Standards.--

    (1) Repeal.--

Section 111
            (d) (18)
        (B) of the Public Utility 
 Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2621
            (d) (18)
        (B) ) is 
 repealed.

    (2) Establishment.--

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) Prohibition on rate recovery for smart grid 
 investments.--No electric utility may recover from ratepayers 
 any capital, operating expenditure, or other costs of the 
 electric utility relating to the deployment of any smart grid 
 system.''.

    (b) Obligations To Consider and Determine.--

    (1) Time limitations.--

Section 112

    (b) of the Public Utility 
 Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2622

    (b) ) is amended 
 by adding at the end the following:
 ``

    (8)
        (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 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) .''.

    (2) Failure to comply.--

Section 112
            (c) of the Public 
 Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2622
            (c) ) 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 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) .''.

    (3) Prior state actions.--

Section 112 of the Public Utility 
 Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2622) is amended by 
 adding at the end the following:
 ``
            (i) 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 during the 3-year period ending on that date of 
 enactment.''.
            (c) 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) .''.
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