Prohibition against recovering political activity expenses from ratepayers

(a) Regulations Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall promulgate regulations— (1) to prohibit covered utilities from recovering covered expenses from ratepayers in proceedings before the Commission, in accordance with this section; and (2) to amend the applicable Uniform System of Accounts in title 18, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor regulations), to instruct covered utilities to place covered expenses in accounts that are presumptively not recoverable from ratepayers, in accordance with this section. (b) Report (1) In general The Commission shall require that, not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, each covered utility shall submit to the Commission a report containing— (A) an itemized list of expenses of the preceding year recorded in accounts relating to— (i) covered expenses; (ii) outside services or vendors; and (iii) the operations of the covered utility with respect to administrative and general expenses; and (B) for each expense or cost described in clauses (i) through (iii) of subparagraph (A), unredacted information with respect to each of the matters described in paragraph (2) that are applicable to that expense or cost. (2) Matters described The matters referred to in paragraph (1)(B) for the expenses and costs described in clauses (i) through (iii) of paragraph (1)(A) are the following: (A) Billing amounts. (B) Billing dates. (C) The identity of each payee for any external consultants or contracts. (D) In the case of a payment made to a third-party vendor by a centralized service company, parent company, or other corporate affiliate of the covered utility, the identity of that third-party vendor. (E) The job title, portion of salaries, and expenses, and all Uniform System of Account codes to which compensation was recorded for the employee, of covered utility staff with respect to any work performed relating to a covered expense. (F) An explanation of the expense or cost that is sufficient to describe the purpose of the expense or cost. (3) Reporting minimum removed With respect to any annual form that a covered utility submits to the Commission having a reporting threshold of $250,0000, the Commission shall remove that reporting threshold for the reporting of transactions with associated or affiliated companies on that annual form. (c) Enforcement (1) In general The Commission shall monitor and investigate compliance and noncompliance with the regulations promulgated under this section. (2) Penalty (A) In general In addition to any refunds that the Commission orders a covered utility to pay ratepayers, the Commission shall assess a penalty in accordance with subparagraph (B) against a covered utility that violates or fails or refuses to comply with the regulations promulgated under this section by charging a ratepayer a covered expense. (B) Amount of penalty (i) In general Subject to clause (ii), a penalty assessed under subparagraph (A) shall be— (I) for a covered expense charged to ratepayers in an amount less than $1,000,000, not less than the amount of that covered expense; (II) for a covered expense charged to ratepayers in an amount not less than $1,000,000 and not more than $10,000,000, not less than double the amount of that covered expense; and (III) for a covered expense charged to ratepayers in an amount more than $10,000,000, not less than triple the amount of that covered expense. (ii) Limitation The amount of a penalty assessed under subparagraph (A) shall be not more than 20 times the amount of the applicable covered expense. (3) No recovery from ratepayers Covered utilities that are subject to a penalty under this subsection may not recover that penalty from ratepayers. (4) Penalty distribution With respect to each penalty assessed and collected under this subsection— (A) ½ of that penalty shall be distributed to ratepayers, through a rebate; and (B) ½ of that penalty shall be distributed to the Commission for the purpose of increasing resources for enforcing this section. (5) Rule of construction Nothing in this Act prevents the Commission from issuing refunds or rebates to ratepayers for a covered expense that was recovered by a covered utility on a date before the date of enactment of this Act.