Cybersecurity Policy Report, Bipartisan House Bill Would Restrict Use of Data From Electric ‘Smart’ Meters, (Sep 8, 2026)
Electric utilities would be banned from monetizing personal information collected from “smart” electric meters under bipartisan House legislation unveiled on Friday.
The Smart Meter Data Privacy Protection Act (H.R. 10284, 119th Cong. (2026)) was introduced by Reps. Josh Riley (D., N.Y.) and Mike Kennedy (R., Utah). It would prohibit state-regulated electric utilities from monetizing “the personal consumption data of an electric consumer,” according to its text.
Under the bill, utilities could use customers’ energy-usage data only for “core functions like billing, grid reliability, outages, and regulatory compliance,” the lawmakers noted in a news release.
Smart meters “do far more than track energy use: they capture detailed, real-time information on household energy patterns, daily routines and habits—data that industry analysts call a ‘holy grail’ for marketers and data aggregators,” they said.
“Nobody asked for smart meters. The utilities rolled them out anyway, and if you didn’t want one, they charged you extra just to opt out,” Rep. Riley said. “Now they’re raking in millions selling all the data the smart meters collect—when you turn the lights on, when you cook dinner, when you take a shower, even when you shut the TV off at night.”
“Smart meters can reveal families’ daily routines in granular detail, but no one should have to surrender their personal data just to keep the lights on,” Rep. Kennedy said. “I am proud to join Rep. Josh Riley in this effort to protect Americans’ right to privacy and make clear that their personal data should not be a commodity.”
The bill’s provisions would be enforced by the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general.
News: FederalLegislation DataPrivacy