Utilities can no longer bill you for their lobbying campaigns

What it does

This bill prohibits large electric utilities and natural gas companies from charging ratepayers for their political lobbying, campaign spending, and public relations expenses designed to influence legislation, regulations, or elections. It requires these utilities to report detailed breakdowns of such spending to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, removes reporting thresholds that previously allowed some affiliate transactions to go undisclosed, and imposes escalating penalties (1x to 3x the amount spent, up to 20x) if utilities illegally pass these costs to customers—with half of penalties refunded to ratepayers and half funding FERC enforcement.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core function is to prevent utilities from passing political lobbying and campaign expenses to ratepayers and to mandate disclosure of such spending. It is a consumer protection and transparency measure, not a deregulation or subsidy.

What the text implies

• Utilities may shift political spending to unregulated affiliates or parent companies not subject to FERC oversight, potentially obscuring the true cost of political influence in the energy sector.
• The bill's definition of 'political influence activity' is broad and includes trade association dues and charitable contributions—utilities may challenge whether routine industry association memberships constitute recoverable expenses.
• Removal of the $250,000 reporting threshold for affiliate transactions may expose previously hidden cost-shifting between utility subsidiaries and parent companies, potentially revealing cross-subsidization patterns.
• Penalties are capped at 20x the covered expense; a utility with $100M in illegal political spending faces a maximum $2B penalty, which may be insufficient deterrent for very large utilities.
• The bill does not address whether utilities can recover political spending through state-level regulatory proceedings, only FERC proceedings—state-regulated utilities may continue to pass such costs to ratepayers in state rate cases.

Who it affects

Ordinary ratepayers benefit by being shielded from subsidizing utility company political spending and gaining transparency into how utilities spend money. The bill prevents utilities from using captive ratepayer revenue to lobby against consumer protections or rate regulation, and creates enforceable penalties with direct refunds to customers.

Who stands to gain

• Ratepayers (direct refunds and lower rates)
• Consumer advocacy groups (increased FERC enforcement resources)

Named in the bill

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Electric utility companies, Natural gas companies, Centralized service companies, Parent companies and corporate affiliates, Trade associations, Section 501(c) organizations, Uniform System of Accounts (18 CFR 367.1)

Where it stands

12 cosponsors: 12 Democrats.

• Jul 29, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Jul 29, 2025 — 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.

Money around this bill

1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $180,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 70 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.

Kathy Castor, the sponsor, reported $1,028,281 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• Sierra Club — $180,000 on 2 filings

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 14, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.