Sponsor
Suhas Subramanyam
Representative · D-VA
Representative · D-VA
The bill forces states to adopt a federal standard assigning grid upgrade costs to very large customers (or risk losing highway funds), trading clearer cost allocation and potential energy‑efficiency gains for heightened federal‑state conflict, budgetary pressure on states and taxpayers, and higher upfront costs for big electricity users.
States that adopt the specified PURPA large-load customer standard keep their full annual federal highway apportionments, preserving funding for roads and bridges and protecting related construction jobs and local transportation projects.
Electric utilities, ratepayers, and large customers gain clearer federal guidance so costs for generation, transmission, or distribution upgrades triggered by very large nonresidential loads are more likely to be assigned to the causing customers, reducing cost‑shifting disputes and creating faster, more predictable resolution of rate design questions.
Conditioning highway funds on implementing the PURPA standard creates a strong financial incentive for states to adopt large-load customer energy standards, which could accelerate energy‑efficiency or demand‑management measures.
States that do not implement the specified PURPA standards risk losing 100% of annual §104(b) highway apportionments, likely delaying or cancelling road projects and harming local construction jobs and communities.
Withholding federal highway funds shifts major fiscal pressure to state and local governments, potentially increasing costs for taxpayers, forcing cuts or reallocation away from other services, and amplifying budget stress at the local level.
Very large nonresidential customers (≥100 MW) may face higher up‑front or fully allocated upgrade costs that increase project expenses, deter investment or new facilities, and concentrate costs on a small class of customers (raising effective electricity prices for those businesses).
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Requires large-load customers (≥100 MW) to cover full grid upgrade costs or have costs assigned to their customer class, and withholds federal highway funds from states that do not adopt the rule.
Official title: To amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to establish Federal standards relating to the recovery of the full, incremental costs of upgrades that serve large-load customers, and to withhold highway funds from States that do not implement such standards, and for other purposes.
Introduced September 8, 2026 by Suhas Subramanyam · Last progress September 8, 2026
Requires utilities to make large-load customers (100 MW+ at one site/campus) pay the full incremental cost of generation, transmission, or distribution upgrades needed to serve them, either up front or by assigning costs to a class of large-load customers. States and nonregulated utilities must begin hearings within one year and issue determinations within two years unless they already have an equivalent rule. It also conditions federal highway formula funds on state adoption: the Department of Transportation must withhold a state's apportioned highway funds if the state has not implemented the required standard within the statutory timelines.