Sponsor
Kathy Castor
Representative · D-FL
Representative · D-FL
The bill makes very large interstate and offshore transmission projects easier to finance and more likely to be built—potentially improving reliability and aligning costs with benefits—but shifts costs onto regional ratepayers, may deprioritize smaller local projects, and could prompt regulatory disputes.
Utilities and transmission developers can recover construction costs for very large interstate and offshore lines through FERC-approved cost-allocation tariffs, making multi-hundred- to thousand-megawatt projects more bankable and more likely to be built.
Electricity customers in affected transmission planning regions will generally pay costs roughly in proportion to anticipated benefits (reliability, economic, resilience, policy), aligning who pays with who benefits and reducing cross-subsidization.
Rural communities, utilities, and grid operators could see improved grid reliability and resilience if very large-capacity interstate/offshore lines and major upgrades are accelerated, lowering the risk of outages and improving system robustness.
Households and businesses in the affected planning regions may face higher electricity bills to fund these large transmission projects.
Local and smaller transmission projects could receive less investment or priority if incentives and cost recovery focus primarily on very large, qualifying projects, potentially delaying needed local upgrades or reliability fixes.
Utilities, developers, and ratepayers could face increased disputes and litigation over broadly worded benefit categories (e.g., 'public policy' or 'other reasonably anticipated benefits'), producing regulatory uncertainty and project delays.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Allows FERC-approved cost-allocation tariffs for very large interstate or offshore transmission projects and ties cost shares to estimated regional benefits.
Official title: To amend the Federal Power Act to authorize the allocation of the costs of certain interstate electric power transmission lines and electric power transmission lines that are located offshore, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 22, 2026 by Kathy Castor · Last progress July 22, 2026
Directs FERC to allow owners or operators of very large interstate or offshore transmission projects to file cost-allocation tariffs and requires those tariffs to assign costs to customers in the transmission planning region(s) roughly in line with anticipated benefits (reliability, economic, public policy, resilience, etc.). It defines "transmission facility of national significance" as newly completed interstate/offshore lines of at least 1,000 MW capacity or upgrades/expansions completed after enactment that increase capacity by at least 500 MW. Preserves FERC's existing authority to approve cost allocation for other types of transmission projects. The measure does not authorize new spending, change tax law, or impose federal construction mandates; it instead changes the statutory framework for how large transmission project costs may be allocated under the Federal Power Act.