II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 613 

To amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to provide 

for the consideration by State regulatory authorities and nonregulated 

electric utilities of whether subsidies should be provided for the deployment, construction, maintenance, or operation of a customer-side technology. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 13, 2017 

Mr. FLAKE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 

to provide for the consideration by State regulatory authorities and nonregulated electric utilities of whether 

subsidies should be provided for the deployment, construction, maintenance, or operation of a customer-side 

technology. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ratepayer Fairness 

5 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CROSS-SUBSIDIZATION OF CUSTOMER-SIDE TECH2 NOLOGY. 

3 (a) CONSIDERATION OF IMPACT FROM CROSS-SUB4 SIDIZATION OF CUSTOMER-SIDE TECHNOLOGY.—Section 

5 111(d) of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 

6 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2621(d)) is amended by adding at the 

7 end the following: 

8 ‘‘(20) CONSIDERATION OF IMPACT FROM

9 CROSS-SUBSIDIZATION OF CUSTOMER-SIDE TECH10 NOLOGY.— 

11 ‘‘(A) DEFINITION OF CUSTOMER-SIDE

12 TECHNOLOGY.—In this paragraph, the term 

13 ‘customer-side technology’ means a device con14 nected to the electricity distribution system— 

15 ‘‘(i) at, or on the customer side of, the 

16 meter; or 

17 ‘‘(ii) that, if owned or operated by, or 

18 on behalf of, an electric utility, would oth19 erwise be at, or on the customer side of, 

20 the meter. 

21 ‘‘(B) CONSIDERATION.—Each State regu22 latory authority (with respect to each electric 

23 utility for which it has ratemaking authority) 

24 and each nonregulated electric utility shall con25 sider, to the extent a State regulatory authority 

26 or nonregulated electric utility allows rates 


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1 charged by any electric utility to include any 

2 cost, fee, or charge that directly or indirectly 

3 subsidizes the deployment, construction, main4 tenance, or operation of customer-side tech5 nology, whether subsidizing the deployment, 

6 construction, maintenance, or operation of a 

7 customer-side technology would— 

8 ‘‘(i) result in benefits predominately 

9 enjoyed by only the users of the customer10 side technology; 

11 ‘‘(ii) shift costs of a customer-side 

12 technology to electricity consumers that do 

13 not use the customer-side technology, par14 ticularly in cases in which disparate eco15 nomic or resource conditions exist among 

16 the electricity consumers cross-subsidizing 

17 the customer-side technology; 

18 ‘‘(iii) negatively affect resource utiliza19 tion, fuel diversity, grid reliability, or grid 

20 security; 

21 ‘‘(iv) provide any unfair competitive 

22 advantage to market the customer-side 

23 technology, including an analysis of wheth24 er the State regulatory authority or other 

25 State authority has uncovered any frauduVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:44 Mar 16, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S613.IS S613

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1 lent customer-side technology marketing 

2 practices within the State; and 

3 ‘‘(v) be necessary to fulfill an obliga4 tion to serve electric consumers. 

5 ‘‘(C) PUBLIC NOTICE.—At least 90 days 

6 before the date on which a State regulatory au7 thority or nonregulated electric utility holds a 

8 proceeding that would consider the cross-sub9 sidization of a customer-side technology, the 

10 State regulatory authority or nonregulated elec11 tric utility shall make available to the public the 

12 results of the evaluation conducted under sub13 paragraph (B).’’. 

14 (b) COMPLIANCE.— 

15 (1) TIME LIMITATIONS.—Section 112(b) of the 

16 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 

17 U.S.C. 2622(b)) is amended by adding at the end 

18 the following: 

19 ‘‘(7)(A) Not later than 1 year after the date of 

20 enactment of this paragraph, each State regulatory 

21 authority (with respect to each electric utility for 

22 which it has ratemaking authority), and each non23 regulated electric utility shall, with respect to the 

24 standard established by paragraph (20) of section 

25 111(d)— 


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1 ‘‘(i) commence the consideration referred 

2 to in section 111; or 

3 ‘‘(ii) set a hearing date for the consider4 ation. 

5 ‘‘(B) Not later than 2 years after the date of 

6 enactment of this paragraph, each State regulatory 

7 authority (with respect to each electric utility for 

8 which it has ratemaking authority), and each non9 regulated electric utility, shall— 

10 ‘‘(i) complete the consideration required 

11 under subparagraph (A); and 

12 ‘‘(ii) make the determination referred to in 

13 section 111 with respect to the standard estab14 lished by paragraph (20) of section 111(d).’’. 

15 (2) FAILURE TO COMPLY.—Section 112(c) of 

16 the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 

17 (16 U.S.C. 2622(c)) is amended by adding at the 

18 end the following: ‘‘In the case of the standard es19 tablished by paragraph (20) of section 111(d), the 

20 reference contained in this subsection to the date of 

21 enactment of this Act shall be deemed to be a ref22 erence to the date of enactment of that paragraph.’’. 

Æ 


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