I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4860 

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

electric consumers the right to access certain electric energy information. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 16, 2010 

Mr. MARKEY of Massachusetts 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 electric consumers the right to access certain 

electric energy information. 

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 ‘‘Electric Consumer 

5 Right to Know Act’’ or the ‘‘e–KNOW Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ELECTRIC CONSUMER RIGHT TO ACCESS ELECTRIC 

7 ENERGY INFORMATION. 

8 (a) ELECTRIC CONSUMER RIGHT OF ACCESS.—Title 

9 II of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 


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1 is amended by adding after section 214 the following new 

2 section: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 215. ELECTRIC CONSUMER RIGHT TO ACCESS ELEC4 TRIC ENERGY INFORMATION. 

5 ‘‘(a) ELECTRIC CONSUMER RIGHT TO ELECTRIC EN6 ERGY INFORMATION.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each electric consumer in 

8 the United States shall have the right to access (and 

9 to authorize 1 or more third parties to access) the 

10 retail electric energy information of such electric 

11 consumer in electronic machine-readable form, in 

12 conformity with nationally recognized open stand13 ards, free of charge, and in a manner that is timely 

14 and convenient and that provides adequate protec15 tions for the security of such information and the 

16 privacy of such electric consumer. 

17 ‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sec18 tion: 

19 ‘‘(A) RETAIL ELECTRIC ENERGY INFORMA20 TION.—The term ‘retail electric energy informa21 tion’ means the following: 

22 ‘‘(i) USAGE INFORMATION.—An elec23 tric consumer’s electric energy consump24 tion over a defined time period, including 

25 information on consumption during not 


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1 less than the 24 months prior to the date 

2 of access of such information by such elec3 tric consumer. 

4 ‘‘(ii) PRICING INFORMATION.—Time5 based retail electric energy prices applied 

6 to the electric consumer. 

7 ‘‘(B) SMART METER.—The term ‘smart 

8 meter’ means a meter installed by the electric 

9 utility that delivers electric energy to an electric 

10 consumer at the home or facility of such electric 

11 consumer that measures electric energy usage 

12 and is capable of communicating electric energy 

13 usage information by means of an electronic 

14 machine-readable signal in real time or near 

15 real time. 

16 ‘‘(3) TIMELINESS AND GRANULARITY.—The 

17 right to access retail electric energy information 

18 under paragraph (1) includes, at a minimum, the 

19 right to access retail electric energy information— 

20 ‘‘(A)(i) in real time or near real time, for 

21 electric consumers served by a smart meter; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(ii) as expeditiously after the time of col24 lection as reasonably feasible for electric con25 sumers not served by a smart meter; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) except as otherwise provided in para2 graph (4), data at intervals— 

3 ‘‘(i) not greater than 15 minutes for 

4 electric consumers served by a smart 

5 meter; and 

6 ‘‘(ii) not less frequent than the inter7 vals at which such data is collected by the 

8 electric utility providing retail service, for 

9 electric consumers not served by a smart 

10 meter. 

11 ‘‘(4) RETENTION.—The data interval require12 ments in paragraph (3)(B) shall not apply to usage 

13 data after a period of 24 months from the date such 

14 data is recorded. 

15 ‘‘(b) GUIDELINES FOR ELECTRIC CONSUMER AC16 CESS.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the en17 actment of this section, the Commission shall, after con18 sultation with State regulatory authorities, the Secretary 

19 of Energy, and other appropriate Federal agencies, and 

20 after notice and opportunity for comment, issue guidelines 

21 identifying minimum national standards for implementa22 tion of the electric consumer right to access retail electric 

23 energy information under subsection (a)(1). In formu24 lating such guidelines, the Commission shall, to the extent 

25 practicable, preserve the integrity of and be guided by acVerDate Nov 24 2008 03:43 Mar 17, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4860.IH H4860

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1 tions already taken by State regulatory authorities to en2 sure electric consumer access to retail electric energy in3 formation, including actions taken after consideration of 

4 the standard under section 111(d)(17). Such guidelines 

5 shall provide guidance on issues including the timeliness 

6 and granularity of retail electric energy information, ap7 propriate nationally recognized open standards for data, 

8 and protection of data security and electric consumer pri9 vacy. The Commission shall periodically review and, as 

10 necessary revise, such guidelines to reflect changes in tech11 nology and the market for electric energy and services. 

12 ‘‘(c) ENFORCEMENT.— 

13 ‘‘(1) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection shall 

14 be effective on the date that is 1 year after the date 

15 the guidelines under subsection (b) are issued. 

16 ‘‘(2) ENFORCEMENT BY STATE ATTORNEYS

17 GENERAL.—If the attorney general of a State, or 

18 another official or agency of a State with competent 

19 authority under State law, has reason to believe that 

20 any electric utility that delivers electric energy at re21 tail in the relevant State is not complying with the 

22 minimum standards identified by the guidelines 

23 issued under subsection (b), the attorney general, of24 ficial, or agency of the State, as parens patriae, may 

25 bring a civil action against such electric utility, on 


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1 behalf of the electric consumers receiving retail serv2 ice from such electric utility, in a district court of 

3 the United States of appropriate jurisdiction, to 

4 compel compliance with such standards. 

5 ‘‘(3) ELECTRIC CONSUMER ENFORCEMENT.— 

6 Provided no civil action has been brought under 

7 paragraph (2), any electric consumer may bring a 

8 civil action against the electric utility providing retail 

9 electric service to such electric consumer, in a dis10 trict court of the United States of appropriate juris11 diction, to compel compliance with the minimum 

12 standards identified by the guidelines issued under 

13 subsection (b). 

14 ‘‘(4) COSTS AND FEES.—In any civil action 

15 under paragraph (2) or (3), if the party bringing the 

16 action is successful in enforcing the standards iden17 tified by the guidelines issued under subsection (b), 

18 the court may award to such party the costs of the 

19 action together with reasonable attorney’s fees, as 

20 determined by the court. 

21 ‘‘(5) SAFE HARBOR.—No civil action may be 

22 brought against an electric utility under paragraph 

23 (2) or paragraph (3) if the Commission has, within 

24 the most recent 2 years, determined that such elec25 tric utility, or the State regulatory authority that 


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1 regulates such electric utility, has adopted and im2 plemented policies, requirements, and measures, as 

3 necessary, that comply with the standards identified 

4 by the guidelines issued under subsection (b). The 

5 Commission shall establish procedures to review the 

6 policies, requirements, and measures of State regu7 latory authorities and electric utilities to assess, and 

8 issue determinations with regard to, compliance with 

9 such standards.’’. 

10 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con11 tents for the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 

12 1978 is amended by adding after the item relating to sec13 tion 214 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 215. Electric consumer right to access electric energy information.’’. 

Æ 


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