POWER Act of 2025
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The POWER Act of 2025 makes it easier for electric utilities to receive federal disaster assistance for both emergency power restoration and long-term hazard mitigation. Currently, utilities may face barriers when trying to combine these activities or access multiple forms of assistance.
Who Benefits and How
Electric utilities (both investor-owned and public) benefit by being able to combine cost-effective hazard mitigation (like undergrounding lines or installing stronger poles) with emergency restoration work. They also benefit from a clarification that receiving emergency restoration funds does not disqualify them from additional hazard mitigation grants under Section 406 of the Stafford Act.
Who Bears the Burden and How
No specific groups face direct new burdens. Federal agencies (FEMA) may see increased applications for combined assistance, but this is administrative rather than a new cost burden. Taxpayers indirectly fund this assistance, though it may reduce long-term disaster costs through better mitigation.
Key Provisions
- Allows electric utilities to jointly carry out hazard mitigation with emergency power restoration activities
- Clarifies that receiving Section 403 emergency assistance does not make utility facilities ineligible for Section 406 hazard mitigation assistance
- Applies only to appropriations made after enactment
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
Amends the Stafford Act to allow electric utilities to combine hazard mitigation activities with emergency power restoration and ensures receiving restoration assistance does not disqualify utilities from additional hazard mitigation funding
Key Policy Areas
Energy, Emergency Management, Infrastructure
Primary Purpose
Amends the Stafford Act to allow electric utilities to combine hazard mitigation activities with emergency power restoration and ensures receiving restoration assistance does not disqualify utilities from additional hazard mitigation funding
Policy Domains
Section 2 - Essential Assistance
Identified Gains
- Electric utilities
- Electric utility customers
- Communities prone to disasters
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Federal Emergency Management Agency (administrative)
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Lankford (for himself, Ms. Hassan, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Wicker, …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security …
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Electric utilities (investor-owned utilities, municipal utilities, electric cooperatives)
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "fema"
- → Federal Emergency Management Agency
- "electric_utilities"
- → Electric utilities (investor-owned and public)
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