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 | * | * | ||||||||
Revenues | 0 | * | * | ||||||||
Increase or Decrease (-) in the Deficit | 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? | Yes | ||||||||
Mandate Effects | |||||||||||
Increases on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2037? | No | Contains intergovernmental mandate? | Yes, Under Threshold | ||||||||
Contains private-sector mandate? | Yes, Under Threshold | ||||||||||
* = between zero and $500,000. | |||||||||||
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H.R. 9339 would require the Department of Energy (DOE), in consultation with the Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), to assess the use of artificial intelligence to enhance the capacity and reliability of the nation’s bulk-power system. The assessment would consider both options for employing artificial intelligence and the technical, regulatory, and operational barriers to doing so. The bill would require the department to report its findings to the Congress.
Using information from the affected agencies about the costs of similar requirements, CBO estimates that the cost for DOE and FERC to implement H.R. 9339 would be less than $500,000 over the 2026-2031 period. Any increased spending by DOE would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds. FERC, though, is authorized to collect fees to recover its costs (which are controlled through annual appropriation acts); thus, CBO estimates that the change in net discretionary spending for FERC from implementing the bill would be negligible.
Spending by the ERO is recorded in the budget as direct spending and the agency assesses fees, which are recorded as revenues, to cover its costs. CBO estimates that consulting with DOE would increase costs for the ERO by less than $500,000 over the 2026-2036 period. Because any amounts collected would be spent soon thereafter, CBO estimates that the net effect on the deficit would be negligible over that same period.
If FERC and the ERO increase fees as a result of the bill, it would increase the cost of an existing mandate on public and private entities, such as electric utilities, that are required to pay those fees. CBO estimates that the additional amounts collected would fall well below the annual threshold established in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 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 David Rafferty (for federal costs) and Brandon Lever (for mandates). The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.
Phillip L. Swagel
Director, Congressional Budget Office