Reliable Power Act

What this does

This bill amends the Federal Power Act to give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission a review role over other agencies' regulations when the power grid is judged short on generation. It directs the Electric Reliability Organization to produce an annual long-term assessment of whether the bulk-power system can supply enough electricity to maintain reliability, including under extreme weather, and whether more generation is needed. If that assessment finds the system at risk of inadequate generation, the ERO must publicly notify the Commission that the grid is in a state of generation inadequacy. The Commission then notifies the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and any other agency it deems appropriate. Once notified, each of those agencies must submit any covered agency action to the Commission for review and comment before finalizing it. A covered agency action is a regulation that relates to or directly affects any generation resource in the bulk-power system. The agency may not finalize the regulation until it responds in writing to the Commission's comments and the Commission finds the action is not likely to have a significant negative impact on the grid's ability to supply enough electricity for reliability. Comments, recommendations, and responses must be placed in the rulemaking docket or made public.