Bill ties energy grants to states banning utility junk fees.
H.R. 10081 — No Utility Junk Fees Act · Filed by Eugene Vindman (D-VA) · Introduced Aug 10, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
States must ban junk fees from electric utilities. They need these rules to get 10% of federal energy-efficiency grant money. Junk fees are charges for paying bills. These fees must not cost more than 150% of actual processing cost, or more than $3. States must require utilities to show all fees clearly. Utilities must offer at least one free payment channel. Utilities must ban fees on automatic payments. The Department of Energy checks if states follow these rules. It can take away grant money if states do not comply.
Who it affects
Residential consumers gain protection from hidden or inflated payment fees. States that do not comply may lose 10% of federal energy-efficiency grant money. Electric utilities must change how they charge for payments.
One thing to notice
States that do not comply may lose federal funding. This could slow renewable-energy and efficiency programs in those states.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Aug 10, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Aug 10, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- junk fees — Charges for paying bills that are much higher than actual processing cost.
- energy-efficiency grant — Federal money given to states to help people use less energy.
- Department of Energy — Federal agency that oversees energy policy and checks state compliance.
- automatic payments — Money taken from a bank account on a set date without asking.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (7,608 characters) on Aug 15, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,206 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-17.
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