Rural and Municipal Utility Cybersecurity Act

This legislation reauthorizes and enhances the Rural and Municipal Utility Advanced Cybersecurity Grant and Technical Assistance Program, which provides crucial funding and technical assistance to eligible electric utilities. The program offers support, including grants and cooperative agreements, to help these entities protect against, detect, respond to, and recover from cybersecurity threats. Eligible entities encompass rural electric cooperatives, municipally owned utilities, other public utilities, non-profits partnered with these, and investor-owned utilities selling less than 4,000,000 megawatt hours annually. The program's core objectives are to facilitate the deployment of advanced cybersecurity technologies and to boost participation in cybersecurity threat information sharing programs . The Secretary of Energy is directed to prioritize funding and assistance for utilities with limited cybersecurity resources, those owning critical bulk-power system assets, or those operating defense critical electric infrastructure. Importantly, information shared under this program is protected from public disclosure under various freedom of information laws. To support these efforts, the bill authorizes an appropriation of $250,000,000 for fiscal years 2027 through 2031.