Findings

Congress finds the following: (1) Residential customers and small business customers in many States have experienced material increases in electricity bills driven by multiple, identifiable factors, including electricity generation, transmission, and distribution costs, State and local public policy requirements, and taxes. (2) Publicly available analyses produced by independent market monitors for Regional Transmission Organizations and Independent System Operators demonstrate that electricity costs can be disaggregated into discrete, transparent cost components at a point in time using existing data and methodologies. (3) While such component level data exists, it is not consistently presented to customers or policymakers in a standardized, accessible format that clearly identifies the relative magnitude and comparative contribution of each cost driver to electricity bills. (4) A clear, point in time identification of electricity cost components will assist customers and policymakers in understanding the cost drivers of electricity bills, without altering retail ratemaking authority or assigning cost responsibility to individual electric utilities.