Small electric utilities serving rural areas and towns face serious cybersecurity threats but often lack the staff or budget to defend against sophisticated attacks targeting power infrastructure. This bill reauthorizes a federal grant and technical assistance program specifically for rural electric cooperatives, municipal utilities, and smaller investor-owned utilities, with $250 million authorized over five years (fiscal years 2026 through 2030). The funding helps utilities deploy advanced security tools, detect and respond to digital threats, and join national networks that share real-time threat information. Utilities with the fewest resources or those protecting infrastructure critical to the national power grid or national defense get priority access to grants and assistance.
Average Household Impact
- Federal cybersecurity grant funding for rural and municipal utilities — $250 million authorized for FY2026-2030 to protect small electric utility systems
Transparency & Accountability
- FOIA disclosure scope for program participants — Information shared under the program exempt from federal and all state and local open-records laws
Congressional Summary
Rural and Municipal Utility Cybersecurity ActThis bill reauthorizes through FY2030 a program that provides cybersecurity-related assistance and funding to rural electric cooperatives and municipal or small, investor-owned electric utilities. The bill also revises methods of awarding support and expands protections for information shared under the program.This program, known as the Rural and Municipal Advanced Cybersecurity Grant and Technical Assistance Program, is administered by the Department of Energy (DOE). Current law requires DOE to provide technical assistance and funding under the program on a competitive basis; under the bill, assistance and funding may be provided on a competitive or noncompetitive basis.Current law also requires DOE to prioritize providing technical assistance and funding to certain entities, including entities that own defense critical electric infrastructure. The bill specifies that DOE must also prioritize entities that operate such infrastructure. (Defense critical electric infrastructure is electric infrastructure that (1) is located in the contiguous United States, and (2) serves a designated critical defense facility but is not owned or operated by the owner or operator of the critical facility.)Finally, the bill expands an existing protection against disclosure to cover all information shared under the program by or with the federal government or a state, tribal, or local government. This provision protects against disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act and other state, tribal, or local disclosure laws.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Reported to House
- Action Date
- 2026-04-30
- Date Added
- 2026-06-26
- Source
- Congress.gov →
Like reading a bill in plain English?
We're building an app that does this for every bill in Congress and lets you tell your reps how you want them to vote. We're a small team getting ready to launch, and we're trying to show investors that real people want this. Be one of them. Help us get it built. Leave your email and we'll tell you the moment the app is ready.