Casten Introduces Two Bills to Bolster Electric Grid Reliability and Affordability in the Face of Extreme Weather
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Congressman Sean Casten (IL-06) introduced the Reinforcing the Grid Against Extreme Weather Act and the Responsive Energy Demand Unlocks Clean Energy (REDUCE) Act. The bills will bolster the affordability and reliability of electricity in the face of booming demand and the growing challenges of climate change, cyber-attacks, and other threats.
Under the Reinforcing the Grid Against Extreme Weather Act of 2025, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) will establish a process under which the organizations responsible for planning electricity transmission will work together to determine the minimum transfer capability between transmission planning regions. Ensuring adequate power transfer capabilities will ensure that when one region of the country faces extreme weather, Americans in that region will still have access to reliable affordable electricity.
During the tragic 2021 Winter Storm Uri, for example, over 200 people died at least in part because the Texas electricity grid suffered a catastrophic failure. The Texas grid was unable to import a significant amount of electricity from neighboring states during the extreme weather event. Meanwhile, neighboring electric grids, which both were better interconnected and had winterized their energy resources, did not suffer the same power loss, despite experiencing the same winter weather.
“The Reinforcing the Grid Against Extreme Weather Act of 2025 will unlock the vast supply of domestic U.S. clean energy sources, increase the reliability of our electric grid, and help cut down on the number of blackouts caused by severe storms, flooding and heat waves,” said Rep. Casten. “By requiring the various transmission planning entities across the country to meet minimum transfer capabilities, we can ensure that when one region of the country faces extreme weather, Americans will still have access to reliable, affordable electricity.”
Specifically, the bill will amend the Federal Power Act to require FERC to establish a process:
- by which adjacent transmission planning regions will use a common method for calculating interregional transfer capability;
- for determining minimum interregional transfer capability sufficient to ensure reliability in the face of weather events, physical attacks, and cyberattacks, and to optimize “transmission benefits,” defined as a broad range of economic, resilience, safety, environmental and other benefits; and
- for allocating the costs of transmission projects identified as necessary through this process.
Transmission planning entities will file their plans within three years of enactment and every five years thereafter, and FERC will approve or deny them. FERC will promulgate the regulations needed to implement this program within two years and report publicly on the program within four years and annually thereafter.
Text of the Reinforcing the Grid Against Extreme Weather Act can be found here.
The REDUCE Act will facilitate “aggregated demand response,” an arrangement under which electricity consumers agree to be paid to shift their electricity use in response to signals from managers of the electric grid. Consumers will be able to sell their energy use reduction into federal wholesale electricity markets, earning revenue for their electricity-demand flexibility, lowering overall energy costs, and reducing reliance on highly polluting “peaker plants” to meet high energy demand.
Aggregated demand response is already allowed in many states, but obstructed in others by a so-called “Opt Out” rule. The REDUCE Act will require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to enact a rule within one year under which electricity transmission organizations will allow demand response aggregators to submit bids in wholesale electricity markets. This will be available for aggregators of customers of utilities that distributed more than 4 million megawatt-hours of electricity in the previous fiscal year, notwithstanding any prohibition against aggregation by State law or a State public utility commission.
“Unleashing aggregated demand response will make our electric grid more affordable and reliable,” said Rep. Casten. “And because the cleanest energy these days is also the cheapest energy, it will reduce emissions. This is a win-win for our economy and our environment.”
Text of the REDUCE Act can be found here.
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