Electric Reliability Security Act of 2003

Bill: 108-s-1754
Sponsor: Sen. Jeffords, James M. [I-VT]
Introduced: 2003-10-17 in the Senate
Policy area: Energy
Subjects: Administrative procedure
Commerce
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Cost effectiveness
Department of Energy
Economics and Public Finance
Electric power distribution
Electric power production
Electric power transmission
Electric utilities
Energy efficiency
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Federally-guaranteed loans
Finance and Financial Sector
Government Operations and Politics
Government trust funds
Governmental investigations
Independent power producers
Independent regulatory commissions
Law
Planning
Regional planning
Science, Technology, Communications
Standards
Technological innovations

Summary:
action_date: 2003-10-17
text: 
Electric Reliability Security Act of 2003 - Amends the Federal Power Act (FPA) to grant the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) jurisdiction over a domestic electric reliability organization, any regional entities, and all users, owners and operators of the bulk power system for purposes of approving reliability standards. 
 
Directs FERC, upon petition of certain States, to establish a regional advisory body to provide advice regarding: (1) an existing or proposed regional reliability entity; and (2) proposed standards and fees.
 
Excludes Alaska and Hawaii from the provisions of this Act.
 
Amends the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA) to direct the Secretary of Energy to develop a model code to ensure electric facility safety and reliability.
 
Amends the FPA to grant the consent of Congress to an agreement to establish a regional transmission planning agency subject to specified FERC determinations.
 
Establishes an Electricity Outage Investigation Board to investigate the causes of a major domestic bulk-power system failure.
 
Requires the Secretary to contract with the National Academy of Sciences to study and report to the President and Congress on the reliability of the U.S. electricity grid.
 
Directs the Secretary of Energy to establish a System Benefits Trust Fund Board which shall create the System Benefits Trust Fund to provide matching funds to States and Indian tribes for public benefits programs.
 
Requires electric retail suppliers to: (1) implement energy efficiency and peak load reduction programs in retail customer facilities and the distribution systems that serve them ; and (2) produce savings by specified percentages in total peak power demand and electricity use by retail customers.
 
Directs the Secretary to publish a final rule by a certain date to determine whether the standards in effect for central air conditioners and heat pumps should be amended.
 
Grants the Secretary loan guarantee authority for activities that enhance the reliability, security, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of electricity generation, transmission, or distribution. 
 
Amends PURPA to require electric utilities to make net metering service available upon request of any electric consumer. 
 
Amends the FPA to prescribe interconnection guidelines to distribution and transmission facilities.
 
Instructs the Secretary to establish a demonstration program for innovative technologies for renewable uninterruptible power supply systems located in eligible buildings (on-site generation for emergency facilities).


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2003-10-17
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. (text of measure as introduced: CR S12840-12845)
action_date: 2003-10-17
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S12839-12840)
action_date: 2003-10-17
text: Introduced in Senate