H.R. 1412 — Know Your Rates Act

This section establishes the short title of the Act as the “Know Your Rates Act.”

This section revises the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to require electric utilities to provide additional billing and usage information to consumers. It amends the federal standard for consumer information under 16 U.S.C. § 2623(b)(3) to require utilities to transmit information regarding rate schedules and consumption of electric energy in accordance with 16 U.S.C. § 2625(f), and it adds a new 16 U.S.C. § 2625(f)(4) for covered electric utilities, defined as utilities that receive federal funding as determined by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. As background, the consumer-information standard is one of the federal standards that state regulatory authorities and nonregulated utilities may adopt under the Act. Under the new program, each covered electric utility must provide, in each bill, (1) the difference between the dollar amount charged in the current billing period and the previous billing period and (2) the consumer’s average monthly electric consumption, in both dollars and kilowatt hours. The utility must also notify consumers about average daily consumption if usage exceeds the prior billing period within the first 9 days of a billing period, with notice on day 10, or within the first 19 days, or another date chosen by the consumer, with notice on day 20 or the day after the chosen date. In addition, the utility must offer each consumer an option to receive notice when the consumer reaches a dollar amount during an active billing period that is based on the utility’s electric rates, reflects electricity consumed, and is chosen by the consumer.

This section establishes a new federal standard requiring each gas utility to transmit to its gas consumers information about gas consumption in accordance with section 304(c) of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (15 U.S.C. 3204(c)). It also directs each covered gas utility, defined as a gas utility that receives funding from federal sources as determined by the Commission, to create a consumer information program under which the utility must: (1) include in each bill the difference between the current dollar amount charged and the previous billing period, and the consumer’s average monthly gas consumption in dollars and therms; (2) notify consumers on the 10th day of a billing period if, within the first 9 days, their average daily gas consumption exceeds the previous billing period, or on the 20th day, or the day after a consumer-selected date, if, within the first 19 days or another chosen date, consumption exceeds the previous billing period; and (3) offer an optional notice when a consumer reaches a dollar amount chosen by the consumer based on the utility’s gas rate and the amount of gas consumed during the active billing period.