The bills included--
-- Virtual Power Plants: House Bill 2264 (Davidson-D-Cumberland) establishes requirements for regulating virtual power plants was amended twice and reported out by a vote of 15 to 11-- one Republican supporting
-- Electric Distribution Hosting Capacity: House Bill 2429 (Cerrato-D-Montgomery) requires utilities to publish accessible maps showing distribution system hosting capacity was amended and reported out by a vote of 15 to 11-- one Republican supporting.
-- Nuclear Power Plants: House Bill 2450 (Mehaffie-R-Dauphin) increases and makes other changes to the fees for nuclear power plants to fund safety and emergency preparedness programs was amended and reported out unanimously by a vote of 26 to 0.
Virtual Power Plants
House Bill 2264 prime sponsor Rep. Nathan Davidson (D-Cumberland) said- “It's not often that we can lower costs for our constituents without compromising on quality or effectiveness of delivery from our energy grid.
“Virtual power plant programs are a simple way to save on electricity without adding costs for the state or other consumers.
“They use technology people already have, like solar panels, batteries, smart thermostats in your home to manage energy more efficiently when demand spikes.
“That means less need for expensive power plants and upgrades.
“The result is lower bills and even some extra earnings for participants, all from a smarter use of what's already in place.”
Two amendments were adopted unanimously to the bill.
Rep. Davidson offered an amendment to require VPP programs to be cost effective, adjusts the compensation rates for energy sent back to the grid and includes protections for competitive program offerings.
“This amendment incorporates stakeholder feedback following extensive work by the Committee staff who I want to thank you their efforts,” said Rep. Davidson. “We heard from several stakeholders that the compensation for participants could be excessive and we adjusted the bill so the compensation is more fair for participants and non-participants alike.”
Rep. Fiedler offered an amendment to authorize the Public Utility Commission to establish rate caps on VPP program costs, if it is determined to be in the public interest.
“[This amendment] takes into consideration concerns we've heard during our public hearing about potential impacts on ratepayers,” said Rep. Fiedler. “We want to ensure that these virtual power plant programs are designed with affordability in mind and protect non-participants from seeing their bills go up. This amendment gives the PUC the ability to cap the costs if those costs are not delivering savings for ratepayers.”
Rep. Martin Causer (R-Cameron), Minority Chair of the Committee, expressed concerns about the bill generally, saying- “We talk in this Committee a lot about affordability. We talked a lot about energy costs.
“This particular bill was the subject of one of our hearings where we heard from multiple stakeholders on the bill.
“This bill appears to me to be a very large mandate that could be very costly down the road should it be enacted.
“I'm concerned about the impact on rate payers across the Commonwealth with legislation like this, and I would ask for a negative vote.”
Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler (D-Philadlephia), Majority Chair, said-- “I will just say that in this moment when I believe we need to do everything we can to try to lower people's bills to keep them from going even higher, that includes the VPPs program, and that includes the companies that supply the energy and help to move it across our Commonwealth.
“I am grateful to all the stakeholders who work so hard together on this bill, and I really think we are in an all hands on deck situation where we need to be really creative about how we can save people money.
“And as the prime sponsor said, this is just linking together things that already exist in so many people's homes.
“We're talking about smart devices, batteries, solar panels, simply connecting them and having everybody play their part so we could try to keep people's bills as close to under control as possible.
Hosting Capacity Maps
House Bill 2429 prime sponsor Rep. Melissa Cerrato (D-Montgomery) said-- “At last week's hearing, we heard from business groups that connecting to the distribution grid is often a lengthy and expensive process.
“We also heard that other state's capacity maps have helped reduce this expense and reduce that frustration.
“We learned that the utilities are often swamped with interconnection study requests and this bill would alleviate that problem.”
Rep. Cerrato offered an amendment to the bill to address security concerns about making the capacity maps available online.
“We did hear real criticism of the bill at last week's hearing, and I believe that we have addressed those concerns in this amendment,” said Rep. Cerrato.
“So I urge members to listen to the business community. They want to build energy in PA. They want to employ PA residents, and they've brought us a simple idea that can do both of those things.
“So I ask for a yes vote for energy generation, for business, for transparency, for reducing efficiencies, and for job growth here in the Commonwealth.”
Rep. Causer, Minority Chair, said-- “We did in fact hear a lot of testimony on this particular bill, and there were concerns expressed about the cost, but also what I would say number one concern is the security of the maps in discussion.
“Electric grids can be a real target for terrorist activities, for cyber attacks, for just general attacks. And what came out of that hearing loud and clear was that this particular bill could be seen as a security risk.
“I do want to acknowledge the work that the sponsor put into the amendment that was just approved. And I do think that that is a positive step forward, but I still see some issues with it.
“In looking at the text of the language, it puts another hurdle in place for anyone to access the data by going to a portal. But the language of the bill doesn't give any criteria for the people that are able to get on the portal to see the data.”
Rep. Fiedler responded by saying-- “We did hear a number of concerns presented at the hearing. I'm glad we had the hearing so we could air those out.
“And I believe that the amendment that we just adopted does address those.
“I want to underline one specific piece that's very important, which is the security and safety component.
“I believe the amendment by creating the portal and having applicants for the portal vetted and screened to make sure that they are appropriate users and holders of that data is an important step to making this bill as good as it can be and something that I am glad to support.
“I hear from members on both sides of the aisle that we need to get more energy generated and connected to the grid.
“And I know that many of us are very troubled by how long it takes to get these projects from conception to shovels in the ground to generating energy.
“I believe this bill is a simple thing the utilities can do to reduce red tape and help businesses make smarter decisions about how and where to invest and hopefully to get more of the energy online faster.
“There are in fact 26 states, 26 that already do this. So we know it can be done.
“We know it can help support businesses, job creation, and making sure that we are getting more energy online, all with the goal of increasing reliability and keeping prices from continuing to skyrocket.”
The bills were reported to the full House and then Tabled, which is the usual procedure.
Click Here to watch a video of the meeting.
Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler (D-Philadelphia) serves as Majority Chair of the House Energy Committee and can be contacted by calling 215-271-9190 or click here to contact. Rep. Martin Causer (R-Cameron) serves as Minority Chair and can be contacted by calling 717-787-5075 or by sending email to: mcauser@pahousegop.com.
Resource Link:
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[Posted: May 6, 2026] PA Environment Digest
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