Energy Secretary gets power to order plants to keep running in crises.
H.R. 10687 — Utility Affordability and Transparency Act · Filed by Frank Mrvan (D-IN) · Introduced Oct 1, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill moves crisis power from FERC to the Secretary of Energy. The Secretary can order power plants to stay open during crises. The Secretary must explain orders in public and show costs to people. The bill says the Secretary cannot use crisis orders to stop plant closings. Plant closings can only be delayed if there is a real crisis and no other choice.
Who it affects
People who pay for power will see the costs of crisis orders. Power plants that want to close will know when the government can stop them. Utilities will have clearer rules about when they must keep plants running.
One thing to notice
One person—the Secretary of Energy—now has this crisis power. Before, a group at FERC made this choice together.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Oct 1, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Oct 1, 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
- FERC — The federal agency that oversees power plants and power markets.
- Secretary of Energy — The head of the U.S. Department of Energy, a cabinet official.
- crisis orders — Commands from the government telling a power plant to keep running during an emergency.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (4,792 characters) on Oct 16, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 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 2026-10-20.
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