Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Mar 26, 2003
Federal Power Act Amendments Act of 2003 - Amends the Federal Power Act to provide that Federal regulation of electric energy transmission and sales shall not extend to those matters which are subject to regulation by the States, including the retail sale of electric energy and any component service.
Denies the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) jurisdiction over: (1) bundled retail sales of electric energy (sales of electric energy to retail customers where generation, transmission, distribution, and other services necessary to supply electric energy to such customers are sold as a single delivered service by a single seller); and (2) the transmission component of sales of electric energy to retail customers.
Requires FERC, upon request of a Regional Transmission Organization or any FERC-authorized transmission entity, to authorize the recovery of costs on a participant-funding basis of transmission facilities that increase the transfer capability of the transmission system.
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Directs FERC to establish technical standards and procedures for the interconnection of facilities used for the transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce with facilities used for the generation of electric energy.
Instructs FERC to ensure, in setting rates for transmission services, that all jurisdictional uses of transmission facilities bear an allocation of the embedded costs of the facilities, as well as the costs of other services ancillary to the transmission of electric energy.
Directs FERC to promulgate pricing policies and standards to promote expansion and improvement of interstate transmission networks through incentive-based, performance-based, participant-funded and cost of service-based rate treatments to ensure reliability of the electric system, to support interstate wholesale markets for electric power, and to expand transmission transfer capacity needed to sustain wholesale competition.
Directs FERC to convene regional discussions with State and other retail regulatory commissions to address whether wholesale electric markets in each region (especially regions without a regional transmission organization) are working effectively to provide reliable service to electric consumers in the region at the lowest reasonable cost.
Authorizes FERC to require an unregulated transmitting utility to provide open access transmission services.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Sep 8, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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