I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7186 
To amend the Federal Power Act to require the Electric Reliability Organiza-
tion to propose a reliability standard that addresses the resilience of 
the bulk-power system, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 11, 2020 
Mr. THOMPSON of California (for himself, Mr. BERA, Mr. DESAULNIER, Ms. 
ESHOO, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. LAMALFA, Ms. LOFGREN, Ms. 
MATSUI, Mr. PANETTA, and Mr. SWALWELL of California) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Com-
merce 
A BILL 
To amend the Federal Power Act to require the Electric 
Reliability Organization to propose a reliability standard 
that addresses the resilience of the bulk-power system, 
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 ‘‘Utility Resilience and 
Reliability Act’’. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:13 Jun 29, 2020
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H7186.IH
H7186
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
SEC. 2. PROPOSED RELIABILITY STANDARD. 
Section 215(d) of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 
824o(d)) is amended by adding at the end the following 
new paragraph: 
‘‘(7) RESILIENCE
OF
BULK-POWER
SYS-
TEM.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 
year after the date of enactment of this 
paragraph, the Electric Reliability Organi-
zation shall file with the Commission a 
proposed reliability standard that address-
es the resilience of the bulk-power system. 
‘‘(B) REGIONAL DIFFERENCES.—The 
proposed reliability standard filed under 
subsection (A) shall take into account re-
gional differences. 
‘‘(C) RESILIENCE DEFINED.—In this 
paragraph, the term ‘resilience’ means the 
ability to— 
‘‘(i) prepare for and adapt to 
changing conditions; and 
‘‘(ii) withstand and rapidly re-
cover from disruptions, including dis-
ruptions caused by extreme weather 
conditions.’’. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:13 Jun 29, 2020
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H7186.IH
H7186
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
SEC. 3. ELECTRIC GRID RESILIENCE EDUCATION PRO-
GRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 
date of enactment of this section, the Secretary of Energy 
shall establish a program to provide information and rec-
ommendations to States and electric utilities on how to 
improve the resilience of electric grids. 
(b) ELECTRIC UTILITY DEFINED.—The term ‘‘elec-
tric utility’’ has the meaning given such term in section 
3 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 796). 
SEC. 4. REPORT ON PLANNED ELECTRIC POWER OUTAGES 
DUE TO EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS. 
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 
of this section, the Secretary of Energy shall submit to 
Congress a report, and publish such report on the website 
of the Department of Energy, that provides recommenda-
tions on how to minimize the need for, effects of, and du-
ration of planned electric power outages that are due to 
extreme weather conditions, including such conditions 
under which the National Weather Service issues a red 
flag warning. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:13 Jun 29, 2020
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H7186.IH
H7186
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS