Power and Water for Families Act of 2026
Sponsored By: Representative Baumgartner, Michael [R-WA-5]
Introduced
Summary
Managing very large electricity loads. This bill would set new standards for non‑residential customers behind a single interconnection with peak demand of 100 megawatts or more, require utilities to recover the full incremental cost of upgrades, and require upfront financial assurances. It would also create two 30% tax credits to spur additive generation and water reuse projects.
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- Other utility customers and households would be protected from shouldering upgrade costs because large-load customers must cover full incremental upgrade costs and provide financial guarantees before work proceeds.
- State regulatory authorities and nonregulated utilities would have to consider and potentially adopt rules that encourage additive generation options for large loads, including long-term contracts, capacity allocations, or market-based approaches, with set decision timeframes and carve-outs for prior comparable actions.
- Businesses and utilities that build qualifying additive generation or water reuse projects could claim a 30% credit (48G for additive generation, 48F for water reuse) subject to verification, recapture, and transfer-property rules that limit improper claims.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 1 costs, 0 mixed.
Tax credit for extra power projects
If enacted, this would create a 30% tax credit for qualifying additive generation investments placed in service for projects that support a covered large-load facility. The extra capacity must exceed the facility's projected peak demand, be under a binding long-term contract of at least 10 years to eligible load-serving entities, and not exceed 50% of the facility's projected peak demand. Projects must begin construction after enactment and be placed in service within 10 years. The bill would require certification and allows tax recapture if demand rises, contracts are cut, or projected demand was materially understated.
Tax credit for industrial water recycling
If enacted, this would create a 30% tax credit for qualified water reuse investments placed in service for qualifying projects. Eligible projects include onsite water recycling systems in industrial, manufacturing, data center, or food processing facilities; replacing freshwater with municipal recycled water for production; and building or expanding municipal water recycling systems for production use. Projects must begin construction after enactment and be placed in service within 10 years. The bill also allows a person who transfers qualifying property to a utility under a binding agreement to claim the credit instead of the utility, with related basis and exclusion rules.
Utilities must consider sharing extra power
If enacted, state utility regulators and nonregulated utilities would have to start a proceeding on the new large-load standard within 1 year and finish decisions within 2 years (unless the State already acted). The bill would require utilities to consider rates, contracts, tariffs, or other mechanisms that encourage or require very large customers to add new generation sized for their load and, when feasible, make any extra capacity available to residential, agricultural, or small business load-serving entities. Utilities and states could use long-term contracts, capacity allocations, market-based approaches, or other mechanisms, but the bill would not force a fixed physical allocation or a uniform set-aside percentage.
New rules for very large electricity customers
If enacted, a "large-load customer" would be any non-residential customer with facilities behind one interconnection that total 100 megawatts or more and that requests or signs a contract on or after enactment. The bill would require utility rates for those customers to recover the full, incremental cost of any generation, transmission, or distribution upgrades needed to serve them. Utilities would be allowed to require those large customers to post financial assurances or pay contributions before upgrades start. These rules would target very large industrial or campus customers rather than spreading upgrade costs to all retail customers.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Baumgartner, Michael [R-WA-5]
WA • R
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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