How environmental advocates stopped a late-session push to let RI Energy own power plants

No one testified in opposition when a proposal that would let Rhode Island Energy own power plants went before lawmakers during concurrent chamber vettings on April 28.

It seemed unlikely that the sweeping reversal of a three-decade-old law separating utility ownership from power generation would advance, said Emily Koo, Rhode Island program director and senior policy advocate for the Acadia Center.

Which is why she and other environmental advocates with Green Energy Consumers Alliance and Conservation Law Foundation scrambled to react after the Senate bill was resuscitated and narrowly advanced out of committee on June 2, with a floor vote first scheduled for June 4, then postponed till June 9.

After a weekend blitz of letters and emails to lawmakers, Koo was still nervous. Was it enough to persuade legislators to reject the measure until questions about the impact on market competition and ratepayer protections were answered?

“It’s hard not to interpret this as another way for Rhode Island Energy to build more capital and return more money to shareholders at the expense of ratepayers,” she said. “They’re taking advantage of the moment.”

Koo also worried that key questions remained unanswered, including the input from state utility regulators who would be charged with reviewing utility-owned project construction and putting limits on how the cost of those projects could be billed back to ratepayers.

“They’re being asked to have tremendous new oversight responsibilities without any additional funding or staff capacity to do so,” Koo said.

Rewriting the state’s laws on energy supply and distribution could create a chilling effect for the private sector if it thinks it has no chance at selling power to Rhode Island, Koo warned.

“There’s a big risk of self-referential treatment,” she explained. “If Rhode Island Energy, which purchases the supply, also owns the supply, they have the ability to benefit themselves over any other kind of electricity generator.”

She continued, “it’s hard not to interpret this as another way for them to make money to return to shareholders.”

To read the full article from Rhode Island Current, click here.