I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2171 

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

for disclosure to consumers of the fuels and sources of electric energy 

purchased from electric utilities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 3, 2007 

Mr. REYES introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 

to provide for disclosure to consumers of the fuels and 

sources of electric energy purchased from electric utilities, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Knowledge Is Power 

5 Act’’ . 

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1 SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF ELECTRIC ENERGY SOURCES BY 

2 ELECTRIC UTILITIES. 

3 (a) DISCLOSURE STANDARD.—Section 111(d) of the 

4 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 

5 2621(d)) is amended by adding the following at the end: 

6 ‘‘(16) DISCLOSURE OF ELECTRIC ENERGY

7 SOURCES.—Each electric utility shall disclose to con8 sumers on their periodic billing statement the per9 centage mix of energy technologies and fuels used to 

10 generate the electricity sold within the distribution 

11 utility’s distribution area. In describing such mix, 

12 each such utility shall disclose the percentage of 

13 electricity generated from coal, from gas, from nu14 clear, from any other fuel, and from any particular 

15 type (including solar, wind, biomass, landfill gas, 

16 ocean tidal, ocean wave, ocean current, ocean ther17 mal, geothermal, municipal solid waste, or hydro18 electric) of renewable energy (as defined in section 

19 203(b)(2) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005). Such 

20 disclosure shall be printed in such manner as to 

21 gives it prominence on the statement.’’. 

22 (b) COMPLIANCE.— 

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

24 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 

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

26 the following: 

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1 ‘‘(6)(A) Not later than 1 year after the enact2 ment of this paragraph, each State regulatory au3 thority (with respect to each electric utility for which 

4 it has ratemaking authority) and each nonregulated 

5 utility shall commence the consideration referred to 

6 in section 111, or set a hearing date for consider7 ation, with respect to the standard established by 

8 paragraph (16) of section 111(d). 

9 ‘‘(B) Not later than two years after the date of 

10 the enactment of this paragraph, each State regu11 latory authority (with respect to each electric utility 

12 for which it has ratemaking authority), and each 

13 nonregulated electric utility, shall complete the con14 sideration, and shall make the determination, re15 ferred to in section 111 with respect to each stand16 ard established by paragraph (16) of section 

17 111(d).’’. 

18 (2) FAILURE TO COMPLY.—Section 112(d) of 

19 the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 

20 (16 U.S.C. 2622(c)) is amended by adding at the 

21 end the following: ‘‘In the case of the standard es22 tablished by paragraph (16), the reference contained 

23 in this subsection to the date of enactment of this 

24 Act shall be deemed to be a reference to the date of 

25 enactment of paragraph (16).’’. 

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1 (3) PRIOR STATE ACTIONS.— 

2 (A) IN GENERAL.—Section 112 of the 

3 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 

4 (16 U.S.C. 2622) is amended by adding at the 

5 end the following: 

6 ‘‘(g) PRIOR STATE ACTIONS.—Subsections (b) and 

7 (c) of this section shall not apply to the standard estab8 lished by paragraph (16) of section 111(d) in the case of 

9 any electric utility in a State if, before the enactment of 

10 this subsection— 

11 ‘‘(1) the State has implemented for such utility 

12 the standard concerned (or a comparable standard); 

13 ‘‘(2) the State regulatory authority for such 

14 State or relevant nonregulated electric utility has 

15 conducted a proceeding to consider implementation 

16 of the standard concerned (or a comparable stand17 ard) for such utility; or 

18 ‘‘(3) the State legislature has voted on the im19 plementation of such standard (or a comparable 

20 standard) for such utility.’’. 

21 (B) CROSS REFERENCE.—Section 124 of 

22 such Act (16 U.S.C. 2634) is amended by add23 ing the following at the end thereof: ‘‘In the 

24 case of each standard established by paragraph 

25 (16) of section 111(d), the reference contained 

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1 in this subsection to the date of enactment of 

2 the Act shall be deemed to be a reference to the 

3 date of enactment of paragraph (16).’’. 

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