Sponsor
Jefferson Van Drew
Representative · R-NJ
Representative · R-NJ
The bill protects consumers from immediate smart‑grid cost pass‑throughs but forces utilities to absorb deployment costs, trading short‑term bill protection for increased utility financial strain and a higher risk of delayed grid modernization.
Electricity customers/ratepayers: utilities are barred from recovering smart-grid deployment costs from ratepayers, protecting households and businesses from immediate increases in electricity bills.
States and utilities that already adopted comparable smart-grid rules: those entities are exempted, avoiding duplicative regulatory processes and reducing compliance burden for already-aligned jurisdictions.
Electric utilities and their investors: utilities must absorb smart-grid deployment costs, which can strain utility finances, reduce funds available for maintenance or other upgrades, and increase the risk of future rate pressure or service problems.
Residents, local governments, and clean-energy advocates: the cost-shift to utilities could slow or halt smart-grid adoption, delaying grid modernization benefits such as fewer outages, greater efficiency, and easier integration of renewables.
State regulators and nonregulated utilities: the bill imposes tight deadlines (1–2 years) for considering the rule, creating administrative burden and raising litigation/implementation risk during required reviews.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Prohibits utilities from recovering any smart-grid deployment costs from ratepayers and sets 1- and 2-year deadlines for state proceedings, with a narrow 3-year lookback exemption.
Official title: To amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to require States to consider prohibiting cost recovery related to smart grid projects, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 7, 2025 by Jefferson Van Drew · Last progress February 7, 2025
Prohibits electric utilities from recovering any capital, operating, or other costs for deploying smart grid systems from ratepayers, and requires state regulators and nonregulated utilities to begin and finish proceedings to consider that prohibition within specified one- and two-year deadlines. The bill also repeals an existing statutory provision, adds a new prohibition, and creates a limited exemption for utilities in States that already implemented or considered comparable standards within the prior three years.