Energy Infrastructure Demand Response Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 487 To require the Secretary of Energy to establish a natural gas demand response pilot program, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 14, 2019 Mr. WHITEHOUSE (for himself and Mr. KING) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Nat- ural Resources A BILL To require the Secretary of Energy to establish a natural gas demand response pilot program, 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 ‘‘Energy Infrastructure 4 Demand Response Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. NATURAL GAS DEMAND RESPONSE PILOT PRO- 6 GRAM. 7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 9 means the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S487.IS S487 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 487 IS (2) PILOT PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘pilot pro- 1 gram’’ means the natural gas demand response pilot 2 program established under subsection (b)(1). 3 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 4 the Secretary of Energy. 5 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.— 6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 150 days 7 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec- 8 retary, in consultation with the Commission, shall 9 establish a natural gas demand response pilot pro- 10 gram to use the latest demand response technology 11 from the energy sector for natural gas— 12 (A) to reduce the cost of energy for con- 13 sumers; 14 (B) to reduce market price volatility; 15 (C) to increase reliability of the energy sys- 16 tem; and 17 (D) to achieve reductions in air emissions 18 and other benefits. 19 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.— 20 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 21 subparagraph (B), to be eligible to participate 22 in the pilot program, an entity shall be— 23 (i) a gas utility, including a local dis- 24 tribution company; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S487.IS S487 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 487 IS (ii) a State public utilities commis- 1 sion; 2 (iii) an electric utility, including a 3 local distribution company; 4 (iv) a municipality; 5 (v) a large industrial consumer, large 6 commercial consumer, or retail marketer of 7 natural gas; or 8 (vi) a third-party energy efficiency 9 program administrator. 10 (B) LIMITATIONS.—An entity described in 11 any of clauses (ii) through (v) of subparagraph 12 (A) shall not be eligible to participate in the 13 pilot program if the State law to which the enti- 14 ty is subject specifically precludes the participa- 15 tion of the entity in a natural gas demand re- 16 sponse pilot program. 17 (3) REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary shall carry 18 out the pilot program under different scenarios, in- 19 cluding in a region that is experiencing fuel short- 20 ages or natural gas infrastructure constraints that 21 cause the cost of energy to increase for consumers. 22 (4) DATA COLLECTION.— 23 (A) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the 24 pilot program, the Secretary shall collect data, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S487.IS S487 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 487 IS including data on, with respect to the regions in 1 which the pilot program is carried out— 2 (i) the reduction in natural gas usage; 3 (ii) decreases in the frequency and se- 4 verity of natural gas infrastructure con- 5 straints; and 6 (iii) changes in energy costs and reli- 7 ability. 8 (B) REPORT.—The Secretary shall submit 9 to the Committee on Energy and Natural Re- 10 sources of the Senate and the Committee on 11 Energy and Commerce of the House of Rep- 12 resentatives a report describing— 13 (i) how to improve data collection; 14 (ii) the metrics that should be used to 15 quantify natural gas demand response 16 usage; and 17 (iii) opportunities to improve the 18 measurement and verification of changes in 19 natural gas consumption resulting from 20 natural gas demand response measures, in- 21 cluding opportunities to collect data that 22 could be used to estimate the quantity of 23 natural gas that could be shifted through 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S487.IS S487 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 487 IS the implementation of natural gas demand 1 response measures. 2 (c) APPLICATIONS; CERTIFICATION.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—On establishment of the 4 pilot program under subsection (b)(1), the Secretary 5 shall submit to all relevant eligible entities notice 6 that the Secretary is accepting applications for the 7 pilot program. 8 (2) SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS.— 9 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 200 10 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 11 each eligible entity desiring certification to par- 12 ticipate in the pilot program shall submit to the 13 Secretary an application containing such infor- 14 mation as the Secretary may require. 15 (B) AUTHORITY TO REQUIRE CERTAIN IN- 16 FORMATION.—The Secretary may require as 17 part of the application under subparagraph (A) 18 information on— 19 (i) the current energy prices and en- 20 ergy supply issues in the region in which 21 the eligible entity is located; and 22 (ii) how implementation of the pilot 23 program in the region in which the eligible 24 entity is located can alleviate the current 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S487.IS S487 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 487 IS energy prices and energy supply issues in 1 the region. 2 (3) CERTIFICATION.—Not later than 250 days 3 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec- 4 retary shall notify each eligible entity that applied 5 for certification under paragraph (2)(A) of whether 6 the eligible entity is certified to participate in the 7 pilot program. 8 (d) TERMINATION.—The pilot program shall termi- 9 nate on the date that is 5 years after the date on which 10 the pilot program is established under subsection (b)(1). 11 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 12 authorized to be appropriated to carry out the pilot pro- 13 gram $10,000,000. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S487.IS S487 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS