(a)  The commission shall, by March 31, 2005, establish and enforce right-to-know regulations requiring any obligated entity to distribute energy source disclosures to all customers of each electrical energy product offered.

Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 39-26-9

  • Commission: means the Rhode Island public utilities commission. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-26-2
  • Customer: means a company taking service from an electric distribution company at a single point of delivery or meter location. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
  • Electrical energy product: means an electrical energy offering, including, but not limited to, last-resort and standard-offer service, that can be distinguished by its generation attributes or other characteristics, and that is offered for sale by an obligated entity to end-use customers. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-26-2
  • End-use customer: means a person or entity in Rhode Island that purchases electrical energy at retail from an obligated entity. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-26-2
  • Generation attributes: means the nonprice characteristics of the electrical energy output of a generation unit including, but not limited to, the unit's fuel type, emissions, vintage, and policy eligibility. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-26-2
  • Natural gas: means the combustible, gaseous mixture of low-molecular-weight, paraffin hydrocarbons, generated below the surface of the earth, containing mostly methane and ethane with small amounts of propane, butane, and hydrocarbons, and sometimes nitrogen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and helium. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
  • NE-GIS: means the generation information system operated by NEPOOL, its designee or successor entity, that includes a generation information database and certificate system, and that accounts for the generation attributes of electrical energy consumed within NEPOOL. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-26-2
  • Obligated entity: means a person or entity who or that sells electrical energy to end-use customers in Rhode Island, including, but not limited to: nonregulated power producers and electric utility distribution companies, as defined in § 39-1-2, supplying standard-offer service, last-resort service, or any successor service to end-use customers, including Narragansett Electric, but not to include Block Island Power Company as described in § 39-26-7 or Pascoag Utility District. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-26-2

(b)  The energy source disclosure shall indicate what sources of energy were used to generate electricity for each electrical energy product, expressed as a percentage of the total amount of energy used towards each electrical energy product. The energy source disclosure shall show the percentages of energy obtained from each of the eligible renewable energy resources, as well as the percentage of energy obtained from nuclear plants, natural gas, oil (which may include any fossil fuel), hydroelectric plants that are not eligible renewable energy resources, coal, and any other sources that the commission may require to be included. The energy source disclosure shall also indicate the emissions created as a result of generating the electricity.

(c)  Energy source disclosures shall be distributed to consumers on a quarterly basis. The obligated entities shall be allowed to recover in rates all incremental costs associated with preparation and distribution of the disclosure label.

(d)  The commission shall allow for or require the use of NE-GIS certificates for the calculation of the energy source disclosure.

(e)  The energy source disclosure presented to any particular end-use customer shall take into consideration and account for voluntary purchases of generation attributes or related products, including purchases made by the end-use customer from providers other than the obligated entity, even if the end-use customer is billed by the obligated entity and also served by that obligated entity’s electrical energy product.

History of Section.
P.L. 2004, ch. 199, § 1; P.L. 2004, ch. 205, § 1.