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Energy Consumer Protection Act of 2026
To amend the Federal Power Act and the Natural Gas Act with respect to the enforcement of certain provisions, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends the Federal Power Act and Natural Gas Act to strengthen enforcement authority over energy market violations. It authorizes the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to prohibit or suspend any person engaged in practices that violate market manipulation rules from participating in the purchase or sale of electric energy, electric energy products, natural gas, or transmission services. The bill adds a new provision to the Natural Gas Act prohibiting the willful and knowing reporting of false information to federal or private price-reporting agencies regarding natural gas markets, with intent to manipulate data. The prohibitions may be imposed conditionally or unconditionally and for permanent or temporary periods as the Commission determines appropriate. The bill also makes conforming changes to clarify that these enforcement authorities apply to all persons, not just individuals, and whether they act directly or indirectly.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
1 cosponsor
- Sen. Cantwell, Maria [D-WA] (D-WA)
Actions (2)
- Apr 21, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. · senate
- Apr 21, 2026 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 21, 2026
Ms. Cortez Masto (for herself and Ms. Cantwell) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
A BILL
To amend the Federal Power Act and the Natural Gas Act with respect to the enforcement of certain provisions, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Energy Consumer Protection Act of 2026”.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITIONS AND SUSPENSIONS FOR VIOLATIONS.
(a) Amendments to the Federal Power Act.—
(1) Enforcement of certain provisions.—Section 316A of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 825o-1) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(c) Prohibition or Suspension for Violations.—The Commission may prohibit, conditionally or unconditionally, permanently or for such period of time as the Commission determines to be appropriate, any person who is engaged or has engaged in practices constituting a violation of section 221 or 222 (and related rules and regulations) from engaging, directly or indirectly, in the business of purchasing or selling—
“(1) electric energy;
“(2) electric energy products, including financial transmission rights; or
“(3) transmission services subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission.”.
(2) Conforming amendments.—Section 314(d) of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 825m(d)) is amended—
(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1)—
(i) by striking “individual” and inserting “person”; and
(ii) by inserting “or 222” after “section 221”;
(B) in paragraph (1), by inserting “with respect to a person who is an individual,” before “acting”; and
(C) in paragraph (2)—
(i) in the matter preceding subparagraph
(A), by inserting “, directly or indirectly,” after “engaging”;
(ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking “; or” and inserting a semicolon;
(iii) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as subparagraph (C); and
(iv) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the following:
“(B) electric energy products, including financial transmission rights; or”.
(b) Amendments to Natural Gas Act.—
(1) Prohibition on filing false information.—The Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 4A the following:
“SEC. 4B. PROHIBITION ON FILING FALSE INFORMATION.
“No person shall willfully and knowingly report to a Federal agency or private-sector price-reporting agency, with intent to fraudulently affect the data being compiled by the Federal agency or private-sector price-reporting agency, any information relating to the transportation or sale of natural gas subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission (including information relating to the availability and prices of natural gas sold at wholesale and in interstate commerce and information relating to the operation of facilities for the transportation and sale of natural gas at wholesale and in interstate commerce) that the person knows to be false at the time of the reporting.”.
(2) Civil penalty authority.—Section 22 of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717t-1) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(d) Prohibition or Suspension for Violations.—The Commission may prohibit, conditionally or unconditionally, permanently or for such period of time as the Commission determines to be appropriate, any person who is engaged or has engaged in practices constituting a violation of section 4A or 4B (including related rules and regulations) from engaging, directly or indirectly, in the business of purchasing or selling—
“(1) natural gas; or
“(2) transmission services subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission.”.
(3) Conforming amendments.—Section 20(d) of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717s(d)) is amended—
(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking “individual” and inserting “person”;
(B) in paragraph (1), by inserting “with respect to a person who is an individual,” before “acting”; and
(C) in paragraph (2), in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by inserting “, directly or indirectly,” after “engaging”. <all>
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