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The bill aims to strengthen interstate grid reliability and accelerate interregional transmission and renewable integration through standardized metrics and a cost‑allocation process, but it risks higher costs for consumers and smaller utilities, possible delays from contested criteria, and tradeoffs between security and public oversight.
Electricity customers, utilities, and state/local governments will have uniform, Commission‑approved methods to measure and set minimum interregional transfer capability, improving grid reliability across regions during extreme weather or outages.
Utilities, developers, and taxpayers will benefit from a formal process to identify, select, and allocate costs for interregional transmission projects, which can speed construction of transmission lines that reduce congestion and better integrate new generation.
Rural communities, local governments, and electricity consumers will gain increased access to low‑ or zero‑GHG generation across regions, lowering emissions and enabling greater use of renewable energy by improving interregional transfer capability.
Electricity customers, taxpayers, and utilities may face higher rates or large upfront costs if interregional projects require cost allocations that increase spending or are passed through to consumers.
Smaller and rural utilities and communities could bear disproportionate planning and cost burdens to meet uniform regional minimums, straining local budgets and resources.
Broad or ambiguous definitions of 'transmission benefit' and greenhouse gases could spark disputes over project selection criteria, prompt litigation, and slow approvals affecting state governments and utilities.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires FERC to set uniform interregional transfer-capability rules, planning, cost allocation, and reporting to boost grid reliability during extreme weather, cyber, or physical events.
Introduced January 22, 2025 by Sean Casten · Last progress January 22, 2025
Creates a new FERC duty to set uniform rules and timelines for calculating and ensuring minimum interregional transmission transfer capability so neighboring planning regions can move more power to one another during extreme weather, cyber, or physical events. It requires regions to agree on calculation methods, file multi-region plans to meet minimum transfer capabilities, identify and allocate costs for projects, and requires FERC to publish implementation reports, while protecting cyberattack-related information.