I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2596 
To prohibit natural gas price gouging after a disaster, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 13, 2023 
Mr. HARDER of California introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To prohibit natural gas price gouging after a disaster, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop PG&E Price 
Gouging During Emergencies Act’’. 
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON UNCONSCIONABLE PRICING OF 
NATURAL GAS DURING A MAJOR DISASTER 
DECLARATION. 
For the duration of a major disaster declared under 
section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170), and for 1 
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year after the end of such major disaster, it shall be un-
lawful for any utility company to charge a rate for the 
sale of natural gas, at wholesale or at retail, in any county 
to which the declaration applies that, as determined by 
the Federal Trade Commission, in collaboration with the 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission— 
(1) is unconscionably excessive; and 
(2) indicates that the utility company is taking 
unfair advantage of the circumstances related to the 
declaration of a major disaster to increase prices un-
reasonably. 
SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT BY THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMIS-
SION. 
(a) ENFORCEMENT BY FTC.—A violation of section 
2 shall be treated as a violation of a rule defining an un-
fair or deceptive act or practice prescribed under section 
18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 
U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)). The Federal Trade Commission 
shall enforce a violation of section 2 in the same manner, 
by the same means, and with the same jurisdiction as 
though all applicable terms and provisions of the Federal 
Trade Commission Act were incorporated into and made 
a part of this Act. In enforcing section 2 of this Act, the 
Commission shall give priority to enforcement actions con-
cerning utility companies with total United States whole-
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sale or retail sales of natural gas in excess of 
$2,000,000,000 per year. 
(b) CIVIL PENALTIES.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Notwithstanding the pen-
alties set forth under the Federal Trade Commission 
Act, any utility company that knowingly violates sec-
tion 2 shall be subject to— 
(A) a civil penalty of not more than 3 
times the amount of profits gained by such util-
ity company through such violation; or 
(B) a civil penalty of not more than 
$100,000,000 total. 
(2) METHOD.—The penalties under paragraph 
(1) shall be obtained in the same manner as civil 
penalties obtained under section 5 of the Federal 
Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45). 
(3) MULTIPLE
OFFENSES; MITIGATING
FAC-
TORS.—In assessing the penalty provided by para-
graph (1)— 
(A) each day of a continuing violation shall 
be considered a separate violation; and 
(B) the court shall take into consideration, 
among other factors, the seriousness of the vio-
lation and the efforts of the utility company 
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committing the violation to remedy the harm 
caused by the violation in a timely manner. 
SEC. 4. CRIMINAL PENALTIES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—In addition to any penalty appli-
cable under section 3, any utility company that violates 
section 2 shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, 
in an amount not to exceed $500,000,000. 
(b) ENFORCEMENT.—The criminal penalty provided 
by subsection (a) may be imposed only pursuant to a 
criminal action brought by the Attorney General. 
SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT AT RETAIL LEVEL BY STATE ATTOR-
NEYS GENERAL. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—An attorney general of a State, 
as parens patriae, may bring a civil action on behalf of 
its residents in an appropriate district court of the United 
States to enforce the provisions of section 2 of this Act, 
or to impose the civil penalties authorized by section 
3(b)(1)(B), whenever the attorney general of the State has 
reason to believe that the interests of the residents of the 
State have been or are being threatened or adversely af-
fected by a violation of this Act, involving a retail sale. 
(b) NOTICE.—The attorney general of a State shall 
serve written notice to the Federal Trade Commission of 
any civil action under subsection (a) prior to initiating 
such civil action. The notice shall include a copy of the 
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complaint to be filed to initiate such civil action, except 
that if it is not feasible for the State to provide such prior 
notice, the State shall provide such notice immediately 
upon instituting such civil action. 
(c) LIMITATION ON STATE ACTION WHILE FEDERAL 
ACTION IS PENDING.—If the Federal Trade Commission 
or the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has initi-
ated a civil action or an administrative action for violation 
of this Act, no State attorney general, or official or agency 
of a State, may bring an action under this section during 
the pendency of that action against any defendant named 
in the complaint of the Federal Trade Commission or the 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for any violation 
of this Act alleged in the complaint. 
(d) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.— 
(1) CIVIL ACTION.—For purposes of bringing 
any civil action under subsection (a), nothing in this 
section shall be construed to prevent the attorney 
general of a State from exercising the powers con-
ferred on the attorney general by the laws of such 
State to conduct investigations, administer oaths or 
affirmations, or compel the attendance of witnesses 
or the production of documentary and other evi-
dence. 
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(2) ENFORCEMENT OF STATE LAW.—Nothing 
in this section shall be construed to prohibit an au-
thorized State official from proceeding in State court 
to enforce a civil or criminal statute of such State. 
SEC. 6. EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS. 
(a) OTHER AUTHORITY OF FEDERAL TRADE COM-
MISSION.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit 
or affect in any way the Federal Trade Commission’s au-
thority to bring enforcement actions or take any other 
measure under the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 
U.S.C. 41 et seq.) or any other provision of law. 
(b) STATE LAW.—Nothing in this Act preempts any 
State law. 
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) NATURAL GAS.—The term ‘‘natural gas’’ 
has the meaning given that term in section 2 of the 
Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717a). 
(2) UTILITY COMPANY.—The term ‘‘utility com-
pany’’ means a gas utility company or a public-util-
ity company, as such terms are defined in section 
1262(7) of the Public Utility Holding Company Act 
of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16451). 
Æ 
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