(a)  If any public utility shall make or give any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any particular person, firm, or corporation, or shall subject any particular person, firm, or corporation to any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage in any respect whatsoever, the public utility shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than two hundred dollars ($200) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500) for each offense.

Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 39-2-3

  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Division: means the division of public utilities and carriers. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
  • person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
  • Public utility: means and includes every company that is an electric distribution company and every company operating or doing business in intrastate commerce and in this state as a railroad, street railway, common carrier, gas, liquefied natural gas, water, telephone, telegraph, and pipeline company, and every company owning, leasing, maintaining, managing, or controlling any plant or equipment, or any part of any plant or equipment, within this state for manufacturing, producing, transmitting, distributing, delivering, or furnishing natural or manufactured gas, directly or indirectly, to or for the public, or any cars or equipment employed on, or in connection with, any railroad or street railway for public or general use within this state, or any pipes, mains, poles, wires, conduits, fixtures, through, over, across, under, or along any public highways, parkways, or streets, public lands, waters, or parks for the transmission, transportation, or distribution of gas for sale to the public for light, heat, cooling, or power for providing audio or visual telephonic or telegraphic communication service within this state, or any pond, lake, reservoir, stream, well, or distributing plant or system employed for the distribution of water to the consuming public within this state, including the water supply board of the city of Providence; provided, that, except as provided in § 39-16-9 and in P. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2

(b)  Nothing in this section or any other provision of the law shall be construed to prohibit the giving by any public utility, of free or reduced-rate service to an elderly person as defined by the division.

History of Section.
P.L. 1912, ch. 795, § 40; G.L. 1923, ch. 253, § 40; G.L. 1938, ch. 122, § 37; G.L. 1956, § 39-2-3; P.L. 1971, ch. 256, § 2.