Substitute Senate Bill 5982 (2026) amends existing law by changing RCW 19.405.020 and RCW 19.405.100 and by adding a new section to chapter 19.405 RCW. The bill revises and expands many statutory definitions (for example: allocation of electricity, consumer-owned utility to explicitly include port districts with a specified exclusion for a single-customer public utility district, biomass energy inclusions/exclusions, affected market customer, nonemitting electric generation, renewable resource, thermal renewable energy credit, and others) and updates which agencies and entities are covered under the Clean Energy Transformation Act definitions and rules. The bill makes procedural and compliance changes by directing the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission and the Department of Commerce (referred to as the department) to adopt rules to streamline implementation with chapter 19.285 RCW, coordinate processes, and set reporting and enforcement requirements. The commission may adopt rules for investor-owned utilities and the department for consumer-owned utilities without limiting their governing bodies’ rate-making authority. The department must set reporting standards for utilities, including port districts (with waivers for inapplicable requirements), and the commission must set reporting rules for affected market customers and may waive those for customers procuring only nonemitting resources. Beginning with the interim performance report due July 1, 2026, consumer-owned utilities must report unspecified electricity contracts longer than 31 days with details; port districts must comply with that specific reporting requirement starting July 1, 2030. Investor-owned utilities must submit required information to the commission, and utilities must make required reports available to their retail customers. The Department of Ecology is required to adopt rules for energy transformation project investment requirements and for measuring and tracking thermal renewable energy credits. The commission is authorized to enforce compliance by affected market customers on its own motion or upon request. This document excerpt does not include the full text of the amended RCW 19.405.100 or the newly added section, and the definition of "natural gas" is truncated here, so the full scope of operative changes, penalties, or other implementation details beyond the definitions and procedural mandates described above are not present in these extracts.

If enacted, more utilities and electricity customers will face new reporting and rulemaking requirements that aim to increase transparency about the kinds of electricity being supplied and purchased. Consumer-owned utilities (now explicitly including port districts) and investor-owned utilities will need to follow coordinated rules from the Department of Commerce and the Utilities and Transportation Commission and begin disclosing unspecified electricity contracts longer than 31 days (consumer-owned utilities starting in interim reports due July 1, 2026; port districts starting July 1, 2030). The Department of Ecology will also adopt verification and reporting rules for energy transformation investments and for tracking thermal renewable energy credits, and the commission will enforce compliance by affected market customers, with limited waivers available in some cases. The groups most affected are consumer-owned utilities (municipal utilities, public utility districts, irrigation districts, co-ops, mutuals, and port districts), investor-owned utilities, and nonresidential “affected market customers.” They will likely face increased administrative costs for rule compliance, data collection, audits, and customer disclosures, plus potential enforcement risk if reporting is incomplete. Some flexibility exists through waivers for port districts and market customers that only procure nonemitting resources, but important details about enforcement mechanisms, penalties, funding to cover added costs, and parts of the bill amending RCW 19.405.100 and other sections are not included in the provided facts, so the exact scope and impact of compliance obligations remain partly unclear.