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Establishes a formal review role for the Commission over federal rulemakings that could affect electricity generation during a declared generation shortfall: affected agencies must send specified rules to the Commission for comment, and agencies cannot finalize those rules until they respond and the Commission finds no likely significant harm to electric reliability. It also requires annual long-term generation adequacy assessments and a prompt notice to the Commission if the Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) identifies a generation inadequacy.
Add an annual long-term assessment to the ERO’s assessments that analyzes the bulk-power system’s ability to supply enough electric energy, considering generation resource mix, transmission development, and demand trends. The assessment must also analyze risk of future supply shortfalls under normal and extreme weather conditions and within each region, and determine whether additional generation resources are necessary.
If the ERO determines in a long-term assessment that the bulk-power system is at risk of inadequate generation resources, the ERO must publicly notify the Commission that the system is in a state of generation inadequacy.
To conduct the long-term assessment, the ERO may collect information and data from users, owners, and operators of the bulk-power system.
Defines “covered agency action” as a regulation that (i) relates to or directly affects any generation resource in the bulk-power system and (ii) at the time the Federal agency receives notice from the Commission is either under development to be proposed or is under consideration in a rulemaking.
Defines “Federal agency” to mean an Executive department (per 5 U.S.C. 101) or any other Executive agency whose head holds a Cabinet-level position.
Who is affected and how:
Users, owners, and operators of the bulk-power system (transmission operators, balancing authorities, RTOs/ISOs): Directly affected because the Commission’s review focuses on actions that could change generator availability or dispatch rules; outcomes may influence operational flexibility and emergency procedures.
Owners or operators of electric generating units (power plant owners/operators): Directly affected by federal rules that could limit fuel use, emissions controls, or operational modes during shortfalls; the review process could delay or change such rules to preserve generation availability.
Federal agencies (executive branch): Affected administratively and procedurally—these agencies must submit covered rulemakings to the Commission and may face delays finalizing rules until reliability concerns are resolved.
Public utilities / Electric consumers: Utilities could see more explicit protection for generation adequacy in federal rulemaking, potentially reducing risk of outages; consumers may benefit from increased reliability but could see slower implementation of some environmental or operational rules.
Electric Reliability Organization (ERO), e.g., NERC (proposed population): Tasked with notifying the Commission when it identifies a generation inadequacy; this raises ERO’s operational role in triggering regulatory review.
Net effects and risks:
Expand sections to see detailed analysis
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Introduced October 23, 2025 by Thomas Bryant Cotton · Last progress October 23, 2025
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Introduced in Senate