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The bill provides near‑term rate protections and greater transparency for customers receiving DOE‑aided utility support, but risks reduced take‑up of federal aid, deferred utility investments, administrative costs, and disputes over steep pay‑reduction formulas that could delay benefits.
Residential electricity customers served by utilities that accept DOE assistance are protected from rate increases above their Jan 1, 2026 level for one year, and consumers served by investor‑owned utilities face up to two additional years of restraint on rate increases tied to executive pay limits.
Taxpayers and utility customers gain greater transparency because utilities receiving DOE aid must report top‑five executive compensation figures.
DOE is given clear enforcement authority to suspend or stop federal assistance immediately if a utility violates the rate or executive‑pay conditions, which strengthens compliance incentives and deters noncompliance.
If utilities decline DOE assistance to avoid the rate or pay conditions, ratepayers lose potential federal support that might have reduced bills or improved service.
Utilities constrained from raising revenue by these restrictions may defer investments or maintenance, increasing risks to reliability and raising future costs for all utility customers.
The formula tying required pay reductions to rate increases (reductions equal twice the percentage‑point rate increase) could produce large mandated pay cuts that prompt litigation or lead utilities to forgo aid, delaying projects and benefits.
Introduced March 12, 2026 by Haley Stevens · Last progress March 12, 2026
Prevents the Department of Energy from giving federal financial assistance to investor-owned electric utilities that increase residential electricity rates above their January 1, 2026 levels. For the first year after the law is enacted, any utility that raised residential rates above that baseline is barred from DOE assistance. For the next two years, DOE may only provide assistance to such utilities if they freeze or reduce total pay for their top five highest-paid employees under specified rules and submit a pay report; the Secretary must stop assistance if a utility violates those pay rules.