(a)  Three (3) months prior to the beginning of the first program year, the electric distribution company shall file a forecast of the total amount of payments that is likely to be paid out to distributed-generation projects in the coming program year within the electric distribution company‘s load zone, along with any costs permitted for recovery pursuant to §§ 39-26.6-4, 39-26.6-13 and 39-26.6-18. The total of all forecasted payments and costs shall be aggregated, net of forecasted revenues from the sale of the energy, renewable energy certificates, and any other market products from the distributed-generation projects participating in the performance-based incentive program. The forecasted net-aggregate amount shall be used to design a fixed monthly charge per customer to recover the net forecast in rates charged to all distribution customers during the prospective calendar year, which fixed charge may be different by rate class in order to reasonably and equitably spread the program costs across all customer classes. The fixed rate shall stay in effect until changed after the first reconciliation filing set forth below and the rate reconciliation process shall be repeated annually, as set forth below. The commission, in its discretion, may move the reconciliation of costs and credits under § 39-26.1-5(f) into this reconciliation in order to have one reconciliation of all program costs and credits from the long-term contracting standard, distributed-generation standard contracting, and renewable energy growth program.

Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 39-26.6-25

  • Commission: means the Rhode Island public utilities commission. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-26.6-3
  • Company: means and includes a person, firm, partnership, corporation, quasi-municipal corporation, association, joint-stock association or company, and his, her, its, or their lessees, trustees, or receivers appointed by any court. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
  • 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
  • Electric distribution company: means a company defined in § 39-1-2(a)(12), supplying standard-offer service, last-resort service, or any successor service to end-use customers, but not including the Block Island Power Company or the Pascoag Utility District. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-26.6-3
  • Fixed Rate: Having a "fixed" rate means that the APR doesn't change based on fluctuations of some external rate (such as the "Prime Rate"). In other words, a fixed rate is a rate that is not a variable rate. A fixed APR can change over time, in several circumstances:
    • You are late making a payment or commit some other default, triggering an increase to a penalty rate
    • The bank changes the terms of your account and you do not reject the change.
    • The rate expires (if the rate was fixed for only a certain period of time).
  • Program year: means a year beginning April 1 and ending March 31, except for the first program year, that may commence after April 1, 2015, subject to commission approval. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-26.6-3

(b)  Within three (3) months after the end of each program year, the electric distribution company shall reconcile the total amount recovered from distribution customers against the total of net payments and costs for the program year. The electric distribution company shall file the reconciliation with a report, along with a new forecast of payments to be made for the next twelve-month (12) period, net of forecasted revenues for the resale of energy, renewable energy certificates, or any other market attributes sold by the electric distribution company. The forecast shall be used to set a new rate in the same manner as set forth above and the new rate shall remain in effect until rates are reset in the next annual reconciliation and the reconciliation balance shall be reflected in the new rate.

History of Section.
P.L. 2014, ch. 200, § 1; P.L. 2014, ch. 216, § 1.