Stop Unfair Electricity Prices Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Stop Unfair Electricity Prices Act ties Department of Energy financial assistance for state-regulated investor-owned electric utilities to residential rates and executive pay. During the first year after enactment, DOE may not provide assistance to a covered utility that charges residential customers more than its January 1, 2026 rate. A utility receiving DOE assistance during that year may not exceed the benchmark, and DOE must terminate assistance if it does.
For the following two years, a utility that raises residential rates above the January 1, 2026 benchmark may receive DOE assistance only if it caps total compensation for its five highest-paid employees at their benchmark amounts and, when a rate rises, reduces their compensation by twice the percentage-point increase in the rate. The utility must report the benchmark and reduced compensation amounts to DOE. DOE must terminate assistance if the executive-compensation rules are violated. Total compensation includes salary, bonuses, stock awards, stock options, and other financial remuneration.
Who Benefits and How
Residential customers of assisted investor-owned utilities benefit from a one-year rate ceiling tied to January 1, 2026 prices. During the next two years, customers gain leverage because utilities seeking federal assistance must shift a formula-based cost to their highest-paid executives when rates rise. Federal energy assistance funds may be protected from utilities that violate the conditions.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Investor-owned electric utilities seeking DOE assistance must hold rates at the benchmark for one year or lose eligibility, then track and report executive compensation during the next two years. The five highest-paid employees of a utility face compensation freezes and reductions linked to residential rate increases. DOE assistance-program staff must verify rates, compensation, and reports and terminate aid after violations. Utilities that choose to raise rates without meeting the conditions lose federal financial-assistance opportunities.
Key Provisions
- Uses each utility's January 1, 2026 residential rate as the benchmark.
- Bars DOE assistance to covered utilities that exceed the benchmark during the first year.
- Requires termination of assistance when an aided utility violates the first-year rate ceiling.
- Applies executive-compensation conditions for two additional years when rates exceed the benchmark.
- Caps compensation for the five highest-paid employees at January 1, 2026 levels.
- Requires compensation reductions equal to twice the percentage-point residential rate increase.
- Requires utilities to report benchmark and reduced compensation amounts to DOE.
- Requires DOE to terminate assistance after an executive-compensation violation.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Conditions Department of Energy financial assistance to investor-owned electric utilities on a one-year residential rate freeze and, for the next two years, on executive-compensation limits and disclosure when rates rise.
Key Policy Areas
Energy, Electric Utilities, Consumer Prices, Federal Financial Assistance, Executive Compensation
Primary Purpose
Conditions Department of Energy financial assistance to investor-owned electric utilities on a one-year residential rate freeze and, for the next two years, on executive-compensation limits and disclosure when rates rise.
Policy Domains
Section 2 residential rate and executive-pay conditions
Identified Gains
- Residential customers of assisted utilities
- Federal energy assistance accounts
- State utility consumer advocates
Identified Costs
- Investor-owned utilities seeking DOE assistance
- Highest-paid utility executives
- DOE utility-assistance compliance staff
- Utility compensation-reporting staff
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Introduced in House
Ms. Stevens introduced the following bill; which was referred to …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Highest-paid utility executives, Investor-owned utilities seeking DOE assistance, Residential customers of assisted utilities
Positive-direction: Residential customers of assisted utilities
Negative-direction: Highest-paid utility executives, Investor-owned utilities seeking DOE assistance, Utility compensation-reporting staff
DOE utility-assistance compliance staff, Federal energy assistance accounts
Positive-direction: Federal energy assistance accounts
Negative-direction: DOE utility-assistance compliance staff
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "secretary"
- → Secretary of Energy
- "covered_utility"
- → State-regulated investor-owned electric utility seeking DOE financial assistance
- "residential_consumer"
- → Residential electric consumer served by a covered utility
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The residential electricity rate charged by the utility on January 1, 2026.
A state-regulated electric utility that is investor owned.
Salary, bonuses, stock awards, stock options, and any other financial remuneration.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology