State Energy Accountability Act

This bill sets a national standard for how states review the reliability impacts of their clean energy rules. If a state has a rule that requires some electricity to come from sources that are not “reliable generation” (as defined in the bill), the state’s utility regulators must produce and publicly share a plain evaluation of how that rule affects the power grid and electric bills. The review must cover a 10-year outlook, how well power supplies perform during emergencies, high demand, or extreme weather, effects on rates, whether retired reliable plants can be replaced with enough new resources that keep reliability equal, and whether the state must lean on out-of-state reliable power to keep the lights on. The bill defines “reliable generation” as power plants that can run for 30 straight days with fuel or energy available, can operate in emergencies, and provide key grid support services; it defines the covered state policies by whether they require power from sources that are not “reliable generation” under this definition.

All state utility regulators must decide within one year whether to adopt this standard. If they adopt it, they must publish the evaluation within one year of their decision (or within one year of any future policy’s adoption) so the public can see the results.

• Who is affected: State utility regulators, electric utilities subject to state energy mix rules, and people paying electric bills in those states (through better transparency on reliability and costs).
• What changes: Required public evaluations of how state energy rules impact grid reliability, emergency readiness, and rates, including whether retiring plants can be replaced without hurting reliability and whether states must import reliable power.
• When: States must decide within 1 year whether to adopt the standard; if adopted, the public report is due within 1 year on existing policies or within 1 year after any new policy is adopted.