Utility Resilience and Reliability Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2854 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 APRIL 26, 2021 Mr. THOMPSON of California (for himself, Mr. DESAULNIER, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. LAMALFA, Ms. MATSUI, and Mr. PANETTA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 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- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Utility Resilience and 4 Reliability Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:54 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2854.IH H2854 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2854 IH SEC. 2. PROPOSED RELIABILITY STANDARD. 1 Section 215(d) of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 2 824o(d)) is amended by adding at the end the following 3 new paragraph: 4 ‘‘(7) RESILIENCE OF BULK-POWER SYSTEM.— 5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 6 the date of enactment of this paragraph, the Electric 7 Reliability Organization shall file with the Commis- 8 sion a proposed reliability standard that addresses 9 the resilience of the bulk-power system. 10 ‘‘(B) REGIONAL DIFFERENCES.—The proposed 11 reliability standard filed under subsection (A) shall 12 take into account regional differences. 13 ‘‘(C) RESILIENCE DEFINED.—In this para- 14 graph, the term ‘resilience’ means the ability to— 15 ‘‘(i) prepare for and adapt to changing 16 conditions; and 17 ‘‘(ii) withstand and rapidly recover from 18 disruptions, including disruptions caused by ex- 19 treme weather conditions.’’. 20 SEC. 3. ELECTRIC GRID RESILIENCE EDUCATION PRO- 21 GRAM. 22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 23 date of enactment of this section, the Secretary of Energy 24 shall establish a program to provide information and rec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:54 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2854.IH H2854 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2854 IH ommendations to States and electric utilities on how to 1 improve the resilience of electric grids. 2 (b) ELECTRIC UTILITY DEFINED.—The term ‘‘elec- 3 tric utility’’ has the meaning given such term in section 4 3 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 796). 5 SEC. 4. REPORT ON PLANNED ELECTRIC POWER OUTAGES 6 DUE TO EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS. 7 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 8 of this section, the Secretary of Energy shall submit to 9 Congress a report, and publish such report on the website 10 of the Department of Energy, that provides recommenda- 11 tions on how to minimize the need for, effects of, and du- 12 ration of planned electric power outages that are due to 13 extreme weather conditions, including such conditions 14 under which the National Weather Service issues a red 15 flag warning. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:54 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2854.IH H2854 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS