Rhode Island General Laws 39-3-1. Services for which certificate of necessity required
No public utility, whether privately owned or a quasi-public agency, shall distribute electricity or furnish or sell gas in any town or city in which any other public utility is at the time distributing electricity or furnishing or selling gas to the public generally, unless the public utility desiring to distribute electricity or to furnish or sell gas shall first have obtained a certificate from the division of public utilities and carriers certifying that public convenience and necessity require the same. Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to require a certificate to be obtained as a condition of distributing electricity or furnishing or selling gas in any town or city by any public utility that was actually distributing electricity or furnishing or selling gas to the public generally in the town or city on or prior to January 1, 1996, or by any successor to the public utility. The division shall not grant the certificate to any electric distribution company if the electric distribution company that is distributing electricity in the town or city offers to provide distribution service to all customers served by any nonregulated power producer, whether affiliated or not, on comparable prices and terms approved pursuant to this title, including the transition charge pursuant to § 39-1-27.4. A copy of any application filed by the Block Island Power Company with either the commission or the division shall be provided by the Block Island Power Company to the New Shoreham town clerk by certified mail.
History of Section.
G.L. 1923, ch. 253, § 59; P.L. 1926, ch. 767, § 1; G.L. 1938, ch. 122, § 55; G.L. 1956, § 39-3-1; P.L. 1971, ch. 265, § 5; P.L. 1972, ch. 205, § 5; P.L. 1996, ch. 316, § 1; P.L. 1997, ch. 326, § 106; P.L. 2002, ch. 73, § 1; P.L. 2002, ch. 361, § 1.
Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 39-3-1
- Commission: means the public utilities commission. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
- 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
- Division: means the division of public utilities and carriers. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
- Electric distribution company: means a company engaging in the distribution of electricity or owning, operating, or controlling distribution facilities and shall be a public utility pursuant to subsection (20) of this section. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
- Nonregulated power producer: means a company engaging in the business of producing, manufacturing, generating, buying, aggregating, marketing, or brokering electricity for sale at wholesale or for retail sale to the public; provided however, that companies that negotiate the purchase of electric generation services on behalf of customers and do not engage in the purchase and resale of electric generation services shall be excluded from this definition. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
- 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
- town: may be construed to include city; the words "town council" include city council; the words "town clerk" include city clerk; the words "ward clerk" include clerk of election district; the words "town treasurer" include city treasurer; and the words "town sergeant" include city sergeant. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-9