I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION 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
FEBRUARY7, 2025
Mr. V
ANDREWintroduced 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 Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Misappropriating 4
Ratepayer Tariffs for Excessive Resources Act’’ or the 5
‘‘SMARTER Act’’. 6
SEC. 2. SMART GRID COST RECOVERY. 7
(a) C
ONSIDERATION AND DETERMINATIONRESPECT-8
INGCERTAINRATEMAKINGSTANDARDS.— 9
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(1) REPEAL.—Section 111(d)(18)(B) of the 1
Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 2
U.S.C. 2621(d)(18)(B)) is repealed. 3
(2) E
STABLISHMENT.—Section 111(d) of the 4
Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 5
U.S.C. 2621(d)) is amended by adding at the end 6
the following: 7
‘‘(22) P
ROHIBITION ON RATE RECOVERY FOR 8
SMART GRID INVESTMENTS .—No electric utility may 9
recover from ratepayers any capital, operating ex-10
penditure, or other costs of the electric utility relat-11
ing to the deployment of any smart grid system.’’. 12
(b) O
BLIGATIONSTOCONSIDER ANDDETERMINE.— 13
(1) T
IME LIMITATIONS.—Section 112(b) of the 14
Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 15
U.S.C. 2622(b)) is amended by adding at the end 16
the following: 17
‘‘(8)(A) Not later than 1 year after the date of 18
enactment of this paragraph, each State regulatory 19
authority (with respect to each electric utility for 20
which the State has ratemaking authority) and each 21
nonregulated utility shall commence consideration 22
under section 111, or set a hearing date for consid-23
eration, with respect to the standard established by 24
paragraph (22) of section 111(d). 25
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‘‘(B) Not later than 2 years after the date of 1
enactment of this paragraph, each State regulatory 2
authority (with respect to each electric utility for 3
which the State has ratemaking authority), and each 4
nonregulated electric utility shall complete the con-5
sideration and make the determination under section 6
111 with respect to the standard established by 7
paragraph (22) of section 111(d).’’. 8
(2) F
AILURE TO COMPLY .—Section 112(c) of 9
the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 10
(16 U.S.C. 2622(c)) is amended by adding at the 11
end the following: ‘‘In the case of the standard es-12
tablished by paragraph (22) of section 111(d), the 13
reference contained in this subsection to the date of 14
enactment of this Act shall be deemed to be a ref-15
erence to the date of enactment of that paragraph 16
(22).’’. 17
(3) P
RIOR STATE ACTIONS.—Section 112 of the 18
Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 19
U.S.C. 2622) is amended by adding at the end the 20
following: 21
‘‘(i) P
RIORSTATEACTIONS.—Subsections (b) and 22
(c) shall not apply to the standard established by para-23
graph (22) of section 111(d) in the case of any electric 24
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utility in a State if, before the date of enactment of this 1
subsection— 2
‘‘(1) the State has implemented for the electric 3
utility the standard (or a comparable standard); 4
‘‘(2) the State regulatory authority for the 5
State or the relevant nonregulated electric utility has 6
conducted a proceeding to consider implementation 7
of the standard (or a comparable standard) for the 8
electric utility; or 9
‘‘(3) the State legislature has voted on the im-10
plementation of the standard (or a comparable 11
standard) for the electric utility during the 3-year 12
period ending on that date of enactment.’’. 13
(c) P
RIOR ANDPENDINGPROCEEDINGS.—Section 14
124 of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 15
(16 U.S.C. 2634) is amended by adding at the end the 16
following: ‘‘In the case of the standard established by 17
paragraph (22) of section 111(d), the reference contained 18
in this section to the date of enactment of this Act shall 19
be deemed to be a reference to the date of enactment of 20
that paragraph (22).’’. 21
Æ
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