Sponsors (3)
This bill directs targeted federal funding and technical assistance to strengthen cybersecurity at small and rural utilities—improving resilience and threat response—but does so with limited funds that may leave some utilities behind, reduces public transparency by exempting shared information from disclosure laws, and requires additional taxpayer spending.
Small and rural utilities and their customers will receive federal grants and technical assistance (authorized at $250M for FY2026–2030) to adopt advanced cybersecurity tools, reducing the likelihood of service outages and operational disruption.
Utilities and government entities will have improved sharing of cybersecurity threat information through the program, enabling faster detection and coordinated response to attacks and improving overall grid and service resilience.
Federal funding and technical-assistance support will lower out-of-pocket costs for small utilities to upgrade systems, reducing the financial burden on small utilities and their customers.
Prioritizing limited program funds for certain eligible entities may leave other utilities without needed cybersecurity upgrades, shifting risk to those utilities’ customers and communities.
Information the program shares is exempted from FOIA and similar state/local disclosure laws, reducing public transparency and external oversight of government–utility interactions and responses.
The $250M authorization increases federal spending, creating additional taxpayer cost and the potential to crowd out other budget priorities if appropriations are constrained.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Reauthorizes and revises a DOE-run cybersecurity grant and technical assistance program for rural and municipal utilities and authorizes $250M for FY2026–2030.
Introduced January 27, 2026 by Mariannette Miller-Meeks · Last progress January 27, 2026
Creates a reauthorized and revised federal program to give rural and municipal electric utilities technical help and funding to improve cybersecurity. The Department of Energy–run program will provide grants, cooperative agreements, and prizes, set priorities for who gets help, allow competitive or noncompetitive awards, protect program-shared cybersecurity information from public disclosure, and is authorized $250 million for fiscal years 2026–2030.