H.R. 10539: Integrated Local, Regional, and Interregional Transmission Planning Act of 2026

This bill would change federal rules for planning and building electric transmission lines, with the goal of making the power grid more reliable, affordable, and resilient.

What it would do

It would direct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to update transmission planning rules so that local, regional, and interregional transmission needs are planned together instead of separately. In practical terms, this means utilities and grid planners would have to look at the grid more as one connected system.

The bill would require FERC to issue new planning rules within set deadlines:

• a proposed rule within 6 months of enactment, and
• a final rule within 18 months of enactment.

Those rules would have to:

• combine planning for local, regional, and interregional transmission projects;
• consider short-term, medium-term, and long-term transmission needs;
• use multiple long-range planning scenarios, including factors like electricity demand, fuel costs, technology trends, electrification, planned plant retirements, interconnection requests, government policy goals, and extreme weather risk;
• encourage longer-term, more efficient solutions instead of relying only on short-term fixes;
• require neighboring transmission regions to plan together;
• require utilities and planners to share information about replacement needs for existing local transmission equipment;
• create cost-allocation rules so that the costs of new transmission are assigned to customers who are expected to benefit from it.

What kinds of projects would be covered

The bill defines several types of transmission projects, including:

• local transmission facilities that are being planned outside regional processes but may later provide broader grid benefits;
• regional transmission facilities that address needs within a planning region;
• interregional transmission facilities that connect neighboring planning regions;
• large load facilities, meaning large industrial or commercial users drawing at least 30 megawatts and potentially creating reliability concerns.

It also defines “transmission benefits” broadly to include items such as better reliability, greater resilience, less congestion, fewer power losses, improved access to lower-cost generation, and cost savings from avoiding later upgrades.

How planning would work

Each transmission planning region would have to work jointly with neighboring regions and submit joint transmission plans to FERC. Those plans would need to identify:

• projects selected for construction or modification;
• the transfer capability needed between regions;
• criteria for choosing projects that improve reliability, resource adequacy, resilience, and consumer welfare; and
• cost-sharing methods that are considered just and reasonable.

Plans would need to be submitted within one year after the final rule takes effect, and then updated at least every 3 years.

FERC review and enforcement

FERC would review each joint transmission plan and could approve it if it meets the bill’s requirements. If regions cannot agree on a dispute in a joint plan, each side would submit its proposal to FERC, and FERC would have 60 days to issue a resolution.

If a region fails to submit a required plan, FERC could:

• grant a one-time extension of up to 180 days,
• set a firm deadline and impose civil penalties for noncompliance, or
• require the region to follow a FERC-approved joint plan.

Permitting and environmental review

The bill would make certain projects selected through an approved joint transmission plan eligible for federal siting treatment under existing transmission permitting law. It would also specify that acceptance of a joint transmission plan, or FERC’s resolution of a dispute over one, would not count as a major federal action under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). However, issuing a permit for a project selected under such a plan would still be treated as a major federal action.

Limits

The bill says it does not give FERC new authority over retail electricity sales or local distribution systems. It also excludes ERCOT, the Texas grid region served by ERCOT members, from the bill’s definition of a transmission planning region.

Relevant Companies

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