I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5649 
To direct the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Energy Efficiency and 
Renewable Energy to establish a grant program to fund research and 
development with respect to certain cellular phone applications, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 16, 2020 
Ms. PORTER (for herself, Ms. STEVENS, and Mr. TONKO) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and 
Technology 
A BILL 
To direct the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Energy 
Efficiency and Renewable Energy to establish a grant 
program to fund research and development with respect 
to certain cellular phone applications, and for other pur-
poses. 
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 ‘‘Consumer Access to 
Grid Information Act of 2020’’. 
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SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM FOR CELLULAR PHONE APPLICA-
TIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary 
shall establish a grant program under which the Assistant 
Secretary shall award grants to eligible entities to carry 
out an eligible project described in subsection (b). 
(b) ELIGIBLE PROJECT.—An eligible entity receiving 
a grant under subsection (a) may use grant funds for re-
search and development activities with respect to the cre-
ation of a cellular phone application that allows the public 
to monitor an applicable power grid, including providing 
a user with the ability to— 
(1) receive grid system alerts; 
(2) view the status of the grid, including— 
(A) current demand for power; 
(B) the forecasted peak demand for power; 
and 
(C) trends in demand for power; 
(3) monitor power grid capacity; 
(4) visualize, through a chart or graph— 
(A) the types of energy sources that are 
serving the grid, including clean energy sources 
and other energy sources, as applicable; 
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(B) the percentage of power that is being 
provided to the grid from each such energy 
source; 
(C) the power supply in response to de-
mand on the grid, with a display of the dif-
ferent types of energy sources being used to 
meet demand; and 
(D) the carbon dioxide emissions resulting 
from energy use with respect to the grid, in-
cluding a breakdown showing the percentage of 
emissions coming from any energy sources cre-
ating such emissions; and 
(5) monitor energy prices in each region served 
by an independent system operator. 
(c) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a grant 
under this section, an eligible entity shall submit to the 
Assistant Secretary an application in such form, at such 
time, and containing such information as the Assistant 
Secretary determines necessary. 
(d) OUTREACH.—The Assistant Secretary shall con-
duct such outreach as the Assistant Secretary determines 
is necessary to ensure that eligible entities are aware of 
the existence of the grant program established under this 
section. 
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SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) APPLICABLE
POWER
GRID; 
GRID.—The 
terms ‘‘applicable power grid’’ and ‘‘grid’’ mean a 
power grid overseen by an eligible entity. 
(2) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist-
ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of the 
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy 
of the Department of Energy. 
(3) 
CELLULAR
PHONE
APPLICATION.—The 
term ‘‘cellular phone application’’ means a software 
application that enables the performance of specific 
tasks that may be run on a computer, a mobile de-
vice, the internet, or any other electronic device. 
(4) CLEAN ENERGY SOURCE.—The term ‘‘clean 
energy source’’ means a fuel, electrical, or energy 
source that significantly limits or avoids greenhouse 
gas emissions, as determined by the Secretary. 
(5) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-
ty’’ means an independent system operator, regional 
transmission organization, or other transmission sys-
tem operator. 
(6) INDEPENDENT
SYSTEM
OPERATOR.—The 
term ‘‘independent system operator’’ has the mean-
ing given such term in section 3 of the Federal 
Power Act (16 U.S.C. 796). 
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(7) LOAD.—The term ‘‘load’’ means the total 
amount of electrical power that is demanded by 
users of the grid. 
(8) REGIONAL TRANSMISSION ORGANIZATION.— 
The term ‘‘regional transmission organization’’ has 
the meaning given such term in section 3 of the 
Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 796). 
Æ 
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