This bill creates a new category called a consumer-regulated electric utility (CREU). A CREU must be set up after the bill is enacted and must serve new electric customers that were not previously served by any retail electricity supplier. A CREU may build, own, and operate generation, storage, transmission, distribution, and sell electricity at retail to eligible CREU customers. A CREU must be physically islanded from all regulated utilities, the bulk-power system, and the Bulk Electric System. CREUs that begin operations after enactment are exempt from the Federal Power Act and from Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and Department of Energy requirements, including reliability standards and interconnection rules. The bill also exempts CREUs from certain provisions of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) and the Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA). CREUs may construct and operate facilities within existing public rights-of-way subject to the same permitting, restoration, and public-safety requirements as other utilities, but review of such applications is limited to right-of-way restoration and storm-response planning. If a CREU connects to the bulk-power system or another transmission or distribution system for primary or backup supply, it immediately ceases to be a CREU and becomes subject to all Federal regulation.
If you are an eligible CREU customer, you would buy electricity at retail from a CREU and receive service only through facilities owned or operated by that CREU on premises that are physically islanded. CREUs set up after enactment operate without FERC or Department of Energy regulatory requirements unless they choose to connect to the wider grid; once connected, federal regulation would apply immediately.
No publicly available information. The bill text does not include budget estimates, cost information, or projected fiscal impacts.
No publicly available information in the bill text about supporters' arguments or intended benefits.
No publicly available information in the bill text about opponents' arguments or concerns.