(d) CREDIT
OR REBATE.—Any penalties incurred
under the index may be returned to all customers in the
form of a one-time credit or rebate or paid to customers
affected by the degradation of service, such as a failure
to install new service on time, or both. In either case, in
any year in which penalties are triggered, the distributor
shall inform its customers of its failure to achieve the
baseline level of service quality in a manner approved by
the State regulatory authority.
(e) REPORT.—Annually the Energy Information Ad-
ministration shall make publicly available for free a report
(including all supporting documentation) showing the
scores of each retail electricity distributor and each retail
electricity supplier for every item measured by the index.
The report and all supporting data and documentation
must be posted on the Internet for free downloading in
a form usable with off-the-shelf spreadsheet and database
software.
SEC. 107. CITIZEN UTILITY BOARDS.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Unless already in existence,
each State shall create a not-for-profit membership cor-
poration to be known as the ‘‘Citizens’ Utility Board,
Inc.’’ herein referred to as the State CUB. An existing
not-for-profit membership corporation located in a State
may become the State CUB provided it meets all the re-
quirements of this section.
(b) MEMBERSHIP.—The membership of the State
CUB shall consist of all residential consumers of elec-
tricity or natural gas 16 years of age or older who have
contributed to the State CUB an annual membership fee,
provided, that any person may resign from membership.
(c) DUTIES, RIGHTS AND POWERS OF THE STATE
CUB.—(1) The State CUB shall—
(A) represent and promote the interests of a
State’s residential consumers of electricity or natural
gas. All actions by the State CUB under this section
shall be directed toward such duty;
(B) inform, insofar as possible, all residential
consumers of electricity or natural gas about the
State CUB including the procedure for obtaining
membership in the State CUB;
(C) establish an annual membership fee which
shall be set at a level that provides sufficient fund-
ing for the State CUB to effectively perform its
powers and duties, and is affordable for as many
electricity or natural gas consumers as is possible,
but nevertheless is not less than five dollars; and
(D) have all rights and powers accorded gen-
erally to, and be subject to all duties imposed gen-
erally upon, not-for-profit membership corporations
under the laws of a State.
(2) In addition, the State CUB shall have the follow-
ing rights and powers:
(A) To solicit and accept gifts, loans, grants or
other aid in order to support activities concerning
the interests of residential consumers of electricity
or natural gas, except that the State CUB may not
accept gifts, loans or other aid from any person or
company that generates, transmits, distributes, or
supplies electricity or natural gas, or from any direc-
tor, employee or agent or member of the immediate
family of a director, employee or agent of any com-
pany that generates, transmits, distributes, or sup-
plies electricity or natural gas.
(B) To seek tax-exempt status under State and
Federal law.
(C) To conduct, support, and assist research,
surveys, investigations, planning activities, con-
ferences, demonstration projects, and public infor-
mation activities concerning the interests of residen-
tial consumers of electricity or natural gas. The
State CUB may accept grants, contributions, and
legislative appropriations for such activities.
(D) To contract for services which cannot rea-
sonably be performed by its employees.
(E) To represent the interests of residential
consumers of electricity or natural gas before regu-
latory agencies, legislative bodies and other public
bodies.
(F) To initiate, to intervene as a party, to
maintain, or to otherwise participate on behalf of
residential consumers of electricity or natural gas in
any proceeding that affects the interests of residen-
tial consumers of electricity or natural gas.
(G) To support or oppose ballot propositions
concerning matters that it determines may affect the
interests of residential consumers of electricity or
natural gas.
(3) The State CUB shall have, in addition to the
rights and powers enumerated in this section, such other
incidental rights and powers as are reasonably necessary
for the effective representation and protection of the inter-
ests of residential consumers of electricity or natural gas.
(4) The State CUB shall not sponsor, endorse, or
otherwise support, nor shall it oppose, any political party
or the candidacy of any person for public office.
(d) STATE-ASSISTED FUNDRAISING BY THE STATE
CUB.—(1) The State CUB shall have the authority to
prepare and furnish to any State agency an enclosure that
the State agency shall include within any mailing des-
ignated by the State CUB. The State CUB shall provide
the agency with any such enclosure at a time reasonably
in advance of the mailing. The State CUB may not require
any State agency to mail an enclosure more than four
times in any calendar year.
(2) Enclosures furnished by the State CUB under
this section shall be limited to soliciting information and
money from consumers and explaining—
(A) the purpose, history, nature, activities, and
achievements of the State CUB;
(B) that the State CUB is open to membership
by residential consumers;
(C) that the State CUB is not connected to any
utility company or governmental agency;
(D) that the State CUB is a not-for-profit cor-
poration directed by its consumer members;
(E) the procedure for contributing to or becom-
ing a member of the State CUB; and
(F) the yearly membership fee.
(3) Prior to furnishing an enclosure to a State agency
for mailing, the State CUB shall seek and obtain the ap-
proval of the appropriate State authority of the content
of the enclosure. The State authority shall approve the en-
closure if it determines that the enclosure—
(A) is not false or misleading, and
(B) contains and is limited to the information
permitted by this section. The State authority shall
be deemed to have approved the enclosure unless it
disapproves the enclosure within fourteen days of re-
ceipt.
(4) The State CUB shall reimburse each State agen-
cy for all reasonable incremental costs incurred by the
State agency in complying with this section above the
agency’s normal mailing and handling costs, provided
that—
(A) the State agency shall first furnish the
State CUB with an itemized accounting of such ad-
ditional costs; and
(B) the State CUB shall not be required to re-
imburse the State agency for postage costs if the
weight of the State CUB’s enclosure does not in-
crease the cost of the State agency mailing. If the
State CUB’s enclosure increases the cost of the
State agency mailing, then it will be required to re-
imburse the State agency for postage cost over and
above what the agency’s postage cost would have
been without the State CUB’s enclosure.
SEC. 108. OFFICE OF CONSUMER COUNSEL.
The Federal Power Act is hereby amended by adding
the following new section after section 320:
‘‘SEC. 320A. OFFICE OF CONSUMER COUNSEL.
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is hereby established
within the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission an Of-
fice of the Consumer Counsel. The Office shall be under
the direction and supervision of the Consumer Counsel.
The Consumer Counsel shall be appointed by the Commis-
sion for a term of not less than 5 years, which term may
be renewed at the discretion of the Commission.
‘‘(b) FINDINGS.—There is authorized to be appro-
priated in each fiscal year to the Office of Consumer
Counsel $10,000,000, adjusted for inflation.
‘‘(c) STAFFING.—Staffing for the Office of Consumer
Counsel may include attorneys, economists, utility ana-
lysts, engineers, human services experts, and other staff,
professional and nonprofessional, and may include consult-
ants to provide advice, analysis, testimony, and represen-
tation of the Consumer Counsel before the Commission.
‘‘(d) DUTIES.—The Consumer Counsel shall rep-
resent the energy using and consuming public in proceed-
ings before the Commission that may affect wholesale or
retail electric or gas service, prices, and practices. The
Consumer Counsel may intervene in any proceeding under
this Act.
‘‘(e) REPORTS.—The Consumer Counsel shall annu-
ally report to the Commission and the Congress on the
impact of wholesale and retail deregulation in the elec-
tricity and gas industries on the using and consuming
public, and on affordable access to such services, and shall
make recommendations for policies to address such prob-
lems in these areas as the Consumer Counsel shall iden-
tify.
‘‘(f) REMOVAL.—The Consumer Counsel may be re-
moved by the Commission for cause, after a hearing on
any allegations giving rise to such cause.’’.
SEC. 109. PROHIBITION OF POWER PLANT BAILOUTS.
(a) PROHIBITION.—It shall be unlawful for any Fed-
eral or State authority to require consumers to subsidize,
directly or indirectly, the costs of owning or operating any
power plant owned by an investor-owned company.
(b) EXEMPTION.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to
any facility or power plant that qualifies for support from
the National Electric Public Benefit Fund or that pro-
duces renewable energy credits.
(c) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this section af-
fects the rights and remedies of any party with respect
to the purchase of electricity or capacity from or to a facil-
ity determined to be a qualifying small power production
facility or a qualifying cogeneration facility under section
210 of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978
pursuant to any contract or obligation to purchase or to
sell electricity or capacity, including the right to recover
the costs of purchasing such electricity or capacity.
(d) ESCROW.—On the effective date of this Act, every
investor-owned company that holds a license to operate a
nuclear reactor shall place in escrow $1,000,000,000 per
reactor to cover costs for nuclear reactor decommissioning,
$500,000,000 per reactor for low-level radioactive waste
disposal, and $500,000,000 per reactor for high-level ra-
dioactive waste disposal.
SEC. 110. PROHIBITION OF AFFILIATE ABUSES AND CROSS-
SUBSIDIES.
It shall be unlawful for any State-regulated investor-
owned electric utility company, or associated holding com-
pany or any subsidiary thereof, to own directly or indi-
rectly any voting security of any company that provides
a nonregulated service, or that provides any type of service
outside the United States, or to provide any nonregulated
service.
SEC. 111. MERGERS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—No transactions subject to section
203 of the Federal Power Act shall be deemed to be con-
sistent with the public interest within the meaning of sec-
tion 203 if the Commission finds that the transaction may
create or maintain a situation inconsistent with the anti-
trust laws in any product and geographic market in which
electricity or capacity is offered for sale to wholesale or
retail customers in the form of—
(1) generation capacity;
(2) transmission capacity; or
(3) electricity.
(b) PROBABLE EFFICIENCIES.—Probable efficiencies,
including savings and benefits resulting from a merger,
will not be weighed against the effects of a merger that
may substantially lessen competition in any geographic
market for electricity if such efficiencies could be achieved
by means other than the merger.
(c) PLAN.—Any claim by applicants that a merger
will produce probable efficiencies, including benefits and
savings, must be supported by a plan accounting for such
efficiencies, and explaining how they will be allocated
among the merging utilities wholesale, retail, and trans-
mission customers.
(d) OPEN ACCESS.—No merger of transmission-own-
ing public utilities or disposition of transmission facilities
shall be deemed to be consistent with the public interest
within the meaning of section 203 of the Federal Power
Act, unless the applicants agree to offer comparable open
access transmission with single system pricing.
(e) REDUCTION OF TRANSMISSION CAPACITY.—No
transaction subject to section 203 of the Federal Power
Act shall be deemed to be consistent with the public inter-
est within the meaning of section 203 if it would result
in a reduction of transmission capacity presently available
for use by transmission customers.
(f) AUTHORIZATION.—Section 203(a) of the Federal
Power Act is amended by inserting after the first sentence
the following: ‘‘It shall be unlawful for a holding company
in a holding company system that includes an electric util-
ity company to directly or indirectly purchase, acquire, or
take any security of any electric utility company or of a
holding company in a holding company system that in-
cludes an electric utility company, without first having se-
cured an order of the Commission authorizing it to do so.’’
SEC. 112. POLLUTION STANDARDS.
(a) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section:
(1) COVERED
GENERATION
FACILITY.—The
term ‘‘covered generation facility’’ means an electric
generation facility with a nameplate capacity of 15
megawatts or greater that uses a combustion device
or nuclear reactor to generate electricity for sale.
(2) COGENERATION.—The term ‘‘cogeneration’’
means a process of simultaneously generating elec-
tricity and thermal energy in which a portion of the
energy value of fuel consumed is recovered as heat
that is used to meet heating or cooling loads outside
the generation facility.
(3) 
POLLUTANT.—The 
term 
‘‘pollutant’’
means—
(A) nitrogen oxides;
(B) sulfur dioxide;
(C) carbon dioxide;
(D) mercury;
(E) high-level nuclear waste;
(F) low-level nuclear waste; or
(G) any other substance that the Adminis-
trator may identify by regulation as a substance
the emission of which into the air from a com-
bustion device or nuclear reactor used in the
generation of electricity endangers public health
or welfare.
(b) NATIONWIDE POLLUTION STANDARDS.—
(1) SCHEDULE.—Not later than July 1, 1999,
the Administrator shall promulgate a final regula-
tion that establishes a schedule of limits on the
amount of each pollutant that all covered generation
facilities in the aggregate nationwide shall be per-
mitted to pollute in each calendar year beginning in
calendar year 2000.
(3) ADJUSTMENT.—The Administrator may ad-
just the schedule established under paragraph (1),
within the limits established by paragraph (2), if the
Administrator determines that an adjustment would
be in the best interests of the public health and wel-
fare.
(c) GENERATION POLLUTION STANDARD.—
(1) ANNUAL DETERMINATION.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than October
1 of each year, the Administrator, in consulta-
tion with the Commission, shall determine the
generation pollution standard for nitrogen ox-
ides, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, and mer-
cury pollution in pounds per kilowatt-hour of
electric production by covered generation facili-
ties for the next calendar year; and high-level
nuclear waste in pounds per kilowatt-hour and
curies per kilowatt-hour and low-level nuclear
waste in cubic feet per kilowatt-hour and curies
per kilowatt-hour of electric production by cov-
ered generation facilities for the next calendar
year.
(B) METHOD.—The Administrator shall
determine by regulation the method to be used
in determining an estimate under subparagraph
(A).
(2) FORMULA.—The generation pollution stand-
ard shall be determined by dividing the annual na-
tionwide pollution standard as established under
subsection (b) by the Administrator’s estimate of the
nationwide kilowatt-hour production for the next cal-
endar year by all covered generation facilities.
(d) INDIVIDUAL
POLLUTION
ALLOCATION.—Only
covered generation facilities that emit a pollutant shall re-
ceive an allocation for that pollutant, and such allocation
shall be equal to—
(1) the facility’s annual generation of kilowatt-
hours of electricity multiplied by the generation pol-
lution standard as established in subsection (c); plus
(2) the facility’s annual generation of thermal
energy used to meet heating and cooling loads re-
sulting from the cogeneration process, which shall be
expressed by the Administrator in units of measure-
ment that provide a reasonable comparison between
energy generated in the form of electricity and en-
ergy generated in the form of thermal energy and
then multiplied by the generation pollution standard
as established under subsection (c).
(f) MONITORING.—
(1) ESTABLISHMENT OF SYSTEM.—The Admin-
istrator shall establish a system for the accurate
monitoring of the amount of each pollutant that a
covered generation facility emits during a year.
(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The monitoring system
under paragraph (1) shall require—
(A) installation on each combustion device
of a continuous monitoring system for each pol-
lutant; or
(B) use of an alternative mechanism that
the Administrator determines will provide data
with precision, reliability, accessibility, and
timeliness that are equal to or greater than
those that would be achieved by a continuous
emissions monitoring system.
(g) POWERS.—The Administrator may promulgate
such regulations, conduct such investigations, and take
such other actions as are necessary to appropriate to im-
plement and obtain compliance with this section and regu-
lations promulgated under this section.
SEC. 113. NATIONAL ELECTRIC PUBLIC BENEFIT BOARD.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish
a National Electric Public Benefit Board to carry out the
functions and responsibilities described in this section and
in section 114.
(b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Board shall be composed
of—
(1) 1 representative of the Commission ap-
pointed by the Commission;
(2) 1 representative of the Secretary appointed
by the Secretary;
(3) 1 representative appointed by the Secretary
of the Department of Health and Human Services;
(4) 1 representative appointed by the Adminis-
trator of the Rural Utilities Service of the Depart-
ment of Agriculture;
(5) 1 representative appointed by the Secretary
of the Department of Housing and Urban Develop-
ment;
(6) 1 representative appointed by the Secretary
of the Department of Labor.
(7) 1 person nominated by the national organi-
zation representing State regulatory commissioners
and appointed by the Secretary;
(8) 1 person nominated by the national organi-
zation representing State utility consumer advocates
and appointed by the Secretary;
(9) 1 person nominated by the national organi-
zation representing State energy offices and ap-
pointed by the Secretary;
(10) 1 person nominated by the national orga-
nization representing energy assistance directors and
appointed by the Secretary; and
(11) 1 representative of the Environmental Pro-
tection Agency appointed by the Administrator.
(c) CHAIRPERSON.—The Secretary shall select a
member of the Board to serve as Chairperson of the
Board.
(d) MANAGER.—
(1) APPOINTMENT.—The Board shall by con-
tract appoint a public benefits manager for a term
of not more than 3 years, which term may be re-
newed by the Board.
(2) COMPENSATION.—The compensation and
other terms and conditions of employment of the
manager shall be determined by a contract between
the Board and the individual or the other entity ap-
pointed as manager.
(3) FUNCTIONS.—The manager shall—
(A) monitor the amounts in the Fund;
(B) 
receive, 
review, 
and 
make 
rec-
ommendations to the Board regarding applica-
tions from States under subsection 5(b); and
(C) perform such other functions as the
Board may require to assist the Board in carry-
ing out its duties under this Act.
SEC. 114. NATIONAL ELECTRIC PUBLIC BENEFIT FUND.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Board shall establish an
account or accounts at 1 or more financial institu-
tions, which account or accounts shall be known as
the ‘‘National Electric Public Benefit Fund’’, con-
sisting of amounts deposited in the fund under sub-
section (c).
(2) STATUS OF FUND.—The wires charges col-
lected under subsection (c) and deposited in the
Fund—
(A) shall constitute electric system reve-
nues and shall not constitute funds of the
United States;
(B) shall be held in trust by the manager
of the Fund solely for the purposes stated in
subsection (b); and
(C) shall not be available to meet any obli-
gations of the United States.
(b) USE OF FUND.—
(1) FUNDING OF UNIVERSAL ELECTRIC SERV-
ICE.—One third of the amount in the Fund shall be