Sponsor
The bill makes it far easier to finance and build very large interstate/offshore transmission by allowing broad cost recovery and benefit-based allocations, but it shifts near-term cost risk onto regional ratepayers and creates potential for contested allocations and regulatory complexity.
Utilities and developers can recover costs for very large interstate/offshore transmission projects through an approved tariff, reducing their financial risk and making long-distance lines more likely to be built.
Customers and communities across planning regions will have project cost allocations that account for reliability, resilience, and environmental/public-policy benefits, enabling transmission that better supports renewables and grid resilience.
Customers in affected planning regions pay shares of projects roughly commensurate with estimated benefits, aligning costs with beneficiaries rather than leaving costs concentrated on a few localities.
Ratepayers in planning regions could face higher electricity charges to pay for very large projects even if their local near-term benefits are uncertain.
Broad and discretionary benefit categories (e.g., public policy or environmental benefits) may produce contested, less predictable cost allocations and lead to litigation over who pays.
Because smaller or regional transmission projects remain under the existing FERC processes, developers and regulators may face dual processes and increased planning complexity.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires FERC to review and ensure cost-allocation tariffs for very large interstate/offshore transmission facilities assign costs roughly in line with estimated benefits.
Senator · D-VT
Creates a federal rule for how costs are allocated for very large interstate or offshore electric transmission projects. It lets project proponents file cost-allocation tariffs with FERC and requires FERC to ensure allocated costs to customers in the transmission planning regions are roughly commensurate with the projects' estimated benefits across reliability, economic, resilience, environmental, and public-policy categories. Defines a "transmission facility of national significance" as either a new interstate/offshore line of at least 1,000 MW completed on or after enactment, or an expansion/upgrade adding at least 500 MW completed on or after enactment, while preserving FERC's existing authority for other transmission facilities.
Official title: 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 Peter Welch · Last progress July 22, 2026