PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Mar 16, 2017
Ratepayer Fairness Act of 2017
This bill amends the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to require a state regulatory authority and a nonregulated electric utility, to the extent that they allow electric utility rates to include charges that subsidize customer-side technology, to consider whether that subsidy would:
result in benefits predominately enjoyed by only the users of the customer-side technology;
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
shift costs of a customer-side technology to electricity consumers who do not use it, particularly in cases in which disparate economic or resource conditions exist among the electricity consumers cross-subsidizing the customer-side technology;
negatively affect resource utilization, fuel diversity, grid reliability, or grid security;
give any unfair competitive advantage to market the customer-side technology, including an analysis of whether a state regulatory authority has uncovered fraudulent customer-side technology marketing practices; and
be necessary to fulfill an obligation to serve electric consumers.
The bill sets deadlines within which the regulatory authority or electric utility must set a hearing date to consider and subsequently determine the subsidization of customer-side technology.
People & committees
Rep. Hudson, Richard [R-NC-8] · R–NC
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy.
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Dec 5, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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