The Electricity Transmission Scorecard Act would require standardized, publicly disclosed performance reporting for entities that transmit electricity, including covered transmission owners and grid operators. It sets out a framework of metrics across affordability, financing, investment prudency, reliability, interconnection fairness, and regional planning, to enable apples-to-apples comparisons across regions and governance structures.
The bill also creates a formal data ecosystem: biannual TIAPS scorecards for transmission owners, annual RIAPS scorecards for ISOs/RTOs and planning entities, a data-verification regime led by independent evaluators with National Laboratories’ involvement, and a public portal for the data. The overarching aim is to illuminate performance, curb inefficiencies, and empower ratepayers, investors, regulators, and researchers to understand and improve grid outcomes.
At a Glance
What It Does
The Commission must require biannual TIAPS scorecards from each covered transmission owner that assess multiple metrics (affordability, financing, prudence, reliability, interregional planning, etc.). It also mandates annual RIAPS scorecards from ISOs/RTOs and planning entities, aggregating data regionally.
Who It Affects
Covered transmission owners (as defined by the bill), ISOs/RTOs, regional planning entities, regulators, and ratepayers. Independent researchers and the Administrator of the Energy Information Administration also participate via data and analytics roles.
Why It Matters
This Act creates a uniform, transparent data framework to compare grid performance across regions, drive efficiency, and ensure ratepayer protections by reducing information asymmetries and enabling evidence-based decision-making.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The bill establishes two parallel scorecards: TIAPS for individual transmission owners and RIAPS for regional entities like ISOs, RTOs, and planning bodies. TIAPS requires biannual reports that cover a wide range of metrics—from how energy costs per unit of energy delivered to the cost of financing, the prudence of investments, and the efficiency of capital deployment to grid reliability, interconnection fairness, and the economic impact of outages.
RIAPS consolidates region-specific performance data, focusing on market efficiency, interconnection processes, regional planning outcomes, and emissions intensity, with an emphasis on transparency and comparability. Both scorecards must be published to the Secretary and supported by underlying, machine-readable data.
A public portal will host these scorecards and data for public scrutiny.
The Five Things You Need to Know
TIAPS reports by covered transmission owners must be published biannually and submitted to the Secretary.
RIAPS reports by ISOs/RTOs and transmission planning entities are required annually.
All scorecards must include a broad set of metrics (affordability, reliability, planning, interconnection, emissions).
Data underlying each scorecard must be published in machine-readable format.
Independent verification by approved evaluators and National Laboratories is required to ensure accuracy and consistency.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Transmission Investment, Accountability, and Performance Scorecards (TIAPS)
Section 3(a) requires each covered transmission owner to biannually develop, publish, and submit a TIAPS report to the Secretary. The scorecard covers metrics across affordability, financing costs, investment prudency and cost recovery, investment effectiveness, capital expenditure bias, system reliability and availability, physical system performance, interconnection fairness, non-operational costs, and interregional planning. The section also authorizes exemptions for categories of owners where a metric is not demonstrably applicable, and mandates data coordination with regional operators and planning entities to support data gathering.
Regional Investment, Accountability, and Performance Scorecards (RIAPS)
Section 3(b) requires ISOs, RTOs, and transmission planning entities to annually publish a RIAPS report that aggregates TIAPS metrics within the entity’s jurisdiction, plus region-specific metrics such as market efficiency, interconnection performance, regional development, seams management, and emissions intensity. The RIAPS framework is designed to preserve regional differences while preserving cross-regional comparability.
Data Disclosure and Verification
Section 3(c) obligates each reporting entity to publish the non-confidential underlying data supporting scorecard metrics in a machine-readable format. Section 3(c)(4) requires the first TIAPS/RIAPS reporting within six months after a final rule is issued under subsection (e)(1). Verification by independent evaluators, standards for evaluator independence, and public disclosure of verification results are also established to ensure credibility.
Public-Facing Scorecard Portal
Section 4 creates a public portal, to be established within 18 months of enactment, that hosts scorecards and their underlying data. The portal is designed to be searchable and transparent, enabling stakeholders to access and analyze performance data directly.
Scorecard Improvement and Stakeholder Engagement
Section 5 requires the Commission to hold public technical conferences at least every three years to gather feedback on metric effectiveness, data quality, alignment with policy priorities, and opportunities to adapt metrics to new technologies and markets. It also mandates a 17-member stakeholder advisory group (including state regulators, covered transmission owners, ISOs/RTOs, generators, planning entities, ratepayer advocates, and energy data experts) to provide input to rulemaking and conferences.
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Explore Energy in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Ratepayers in service territories benefit from greater transparency and potential reductions in inefficiency and cross-subsidization.
- Regulators and public utility commissions gain standardized data for oversight and policy development.
- ISOs, RTOs, and transmission planning entities receive clearer metrics to guide regional planning and efficiency improvements.
- Investors and researchers can access standardized data to compare performance and identify opportunities for improvement.
- National Laboratories and independent researchers gain robust data and verification tools to support grid analytics.
Who Bears the Cost
- Covered transmission owners will incur reporting, data management, and verification costs.
- ISOs, RTOs, and planning entities must implement data aggregation and reporting systems for RIAPS and TIAPS.
- Regulators and the government must fund and manage verification and data portal maintenance.
- Data-sharing infrastructure and independent evaluator contracts add ongoing compliance costs for ratepayers and utilities.
- The transition to standardized metrics may require process changes and potential short-term adjustments in rate proceedings.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central tension is between achieving uniform, cross-region transparency and preserving appropriate regional flexibility. Standardized metrics can drive fair comparisons and accountability, but they may obscure region-specific conditions or market structures that affect performance measurements.
The bill creates a comprehensive data framework that could be costly to implement, especially for smaller or non-traditional transmission owners. While standardization improves comparability, regional differences in market design and regulatory structures may justify exemptions from certain metrics.
The requirement to publish non-confidential data in machine-readable form raises questions about data privacy, competitive sensitivity, and the risk of misinterpretation by non-experts. The verification regime relies heavily on independent evaluators, which may raise concerns about impartiality, capacity, and potential conflicts, though the bill places several safeguards and mandates National Laboratory involvement to bolster credibility.
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