As ordered reported by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on July 21, 2026
By Fiscal Year, Millions of Dollars | 2026 | 2026-2031 | 2026-2036 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Direct Spending (Outlays) | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Revenues | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Increase or Decrease (-) in the Deficit | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Spending Subject to Appropriation (Outlays) | 0 | * | not estimated | ||||||||
Increases net direct spending in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2037? | No | Statutory pay-as-you-go procedures apply? | No | ||||||||
Mandate Effects | |||||||||||
Increases on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2037? | No | Contains intergovernmental mandate? | Yes, Cannot Determine Costs | ||||||||
Contains private-sector mandate? | Yes, Under Threshold | ||||||||||
* = between -$500,000 and $500,000. | |||||||||||
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H.R. 6633 would require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to direct public utility companies to use high-capacity and high-efficiency transmission conductors for certain projects. The bill would require FERC, within one year of enactment, to issue regulations establishing a methodology for designating the best-available conductors and update that methodology as necessary. The bill also would require FERC to establish reporting and compliance requirements for utility companies and exemptions for certain projects.
CBO expects that implementing H.R. 6633 could have a small effect on FERC’s workload. Because FERC is authorized to collect fees to recover its costs, which are controlled through annual appropriation acts, CBO estimates that net discretionary costs for FERC would be negligible over the 2026-2031 period.
H.R. 6633 would impose intergovernmental mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) by requiring public utilities to install transmission conductors designated by FERC on covered projects unless otherwise exempt. The cost of compliance would be the net difference between the cost of the transmission conductors required by FERC and the transmission conductors that otherwise would have been used on the project. CBO cannot determine the cost of the mandate because it would depend on regulations to be issued.
The bill also would increase the cost of an existing mandate on public and private entities, such as electric utilities, that are required to pay those fees, if FERC increased its fees to offset the costs of implementing the bill. CBO estimates that the additional amounts collected would be small and fall well below the thresholds established in UMRA for intergovernmental and private-sector mandates ($107 million and $214 million in 2026, respectively, adjusted annually for inflation).
The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Grace Berry (for federal costs) and Brandon Lever (for mandates). The estimate was reviewed by Chad Chirico, Director of Budget Analysis.
Phillip L. Swagel
Director, Congressional Budget Office