Expensive electric bills put RI clean energy policies into spotlight

by: Eli Sherman, Sarah Guernelli, Kate Wilkinson

Posted: Feb 25, 2025 / 06:19 PM EST

Updated: Feb 26, 2025 / 12:23 AM EST

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — While Rhode Islanders might be enjoying some respite from the frigid temperatures that have hit the region in 2025, many are reeling from the sticker shock of their utility bills.

Target 12 has been flooded for weeks with complaints from Rhode Island Energy customers, expressing frustration over electric and gas bills, which have soared in the first two billing cycles of the year.

“I was quite shocked,” said Joy Aubee, a Cranston resident, whose electric bill totaled $400 last month. “When you’re on a fixed income, you’ve only got some much money to work with.”

The outcry has Rhode Island Energy defending its role as the state’s largest utility company, and state lawmakers proposing legislation aimed at reducing customer costs and, in some cases, pumping the brakes on some of the state’s more aggressive clean-energy policies.

“They cannot afford these high energy costs,” said Rep. Charlene Lima, a Cranston Democrat, who’s proposing legislation to cut certain utility costs and add a decade to Rhode Island’s current goal of becoming 100% dependent on renewable energy by 2033.

“I’m not against green energy — we all want that — but we need to slow down, take a deep breath and look at the effect of these policies,” she said.

Rhode Island Energy made $24.8 million in profit from electric customers in 2023, but its earnings are hardly the only cost driver for customers. Company executives often highlight state-mandated bill charges for clean energy when trying to deflect blame for high costs, arguing they cannot control public policy at the State House.

“I’m not here to make judgment on whether those costs are good or bad,” Rhode Island Energy President and CEO Greg Cornett told Target 12 earlier this month. “We certainly support the state’s clean energy and climate goals, but the question is, at what cost? And what is driving these significant delivery charges that customers are seeing is those public-policy costs.”

State leaders and clean-energy advocates, meanwhile, have long argued that raising clean-energy funds through utility bills is necessary to achieve the state’s lofty carbon-cutting goals, which are designed to curb sea-level rise in a state with more than 400 miles of coastline.

“Right now, we’re going to continue to invest in the ideas we have on the table because that’s part of our economy,” Gov. Dan McKee told reporters this week, citing the value of clean energy-related jobs and the state’s burgeoning offshore wind industry.

A Rhode Island Energy bill is divided into two sections: supply and delivery.

The supply side is typically about 50% of the bill and it represents the raw cost of electricity, which Rhode Island Energy passes through to customers at cost.

The delivery side of the electric bill is a mix of company earnings, taxes, distribution and transmission costs, along with clean-energy programs that are mandated by the state.

The state-mandated costs typically make up 28% of delivery costs and roughly 14% of the total bill, according to a Target 12 analysis of sample bills and actual bills.

In 2023, Rhode Island electric customers paid $335.5 million into the clean-energy programs. The money goes toward different priorities, such as renewable-energy distribution, energy-efficiency projects and long-term contracts for the Block Island wind farm and the Johnston landfill gas plant.

Like the supply side, delivery costs fluctuate based on customers' usage and can soar if people use more energy during cold spells in the winter. The dynamic is playing out in real time, as Rhode Island is experiencing one of its coldest winters in a decade.

Temperatures were below average in December, January and February, according to data collected at Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport by the National Weather Service. The last time Rhode Island experienced a below-average winter was 2014-15.

Meanwhile, most of Rhode Island Energy's standard-rate customers received a one-time credit of $69 on their December electricity bills, making bills feel even higher than normal when the credit disappeared in January.

For gas bills, the cost breakdown is far more straightforward than electric bills. In 2023, Rhode Island Energy made $42.5 million in profit from gas, according to regulators.

Customers, meanwhile, paid $36.7 million into energy-efficiency programs, such as replacing outdated and leaky gas lines.

State House scrutiny

Lima wants to target the clean-energy costs, but other lawmakers disagree and instead want customer costs to be offset by Rhode Island Energy profit.

State Rep. Megan Cotter, an Exeter Democrat, has proposed capping the utility's profit margin for electric and gas at 4% in any year.

Currently, Rhode Island Energy's annual profit margin is 9.3% based on an agreement made in 2018. Rhode Island Energy reported a profit margin of 4% on electricity and 5.3% for gas in 2023, according to the R.I. Division of Public Utilities and Carriers.

"As the middle class erodes, we need to look at the ways we enable big businesses to wring large profits out of the public," Cotter said in a statement.

"Corporate greed has no place in public utilities in particular, because people don’t have any other option but to use their services," Cotter added. "They shouldn't have to pay higher rates for basic, vital needs like heat and electricity for the sake of the company's profit."

Meanwhile, Rhode Island Energy has proposed new rates for the six-month summer period beginning April 1, which is a typical regulatory process that happens twice per year.

Electricity customers would see their rates decline from about 16.4 cents per kilowatt hour during the winter to about 10.2 cents per kilowatt hour — roughly matching the level seen last summer. The company says the decrease would reduce the average customer’s electric bill by about $28, or 16.6%, compared to the winter.

Residential gas customers, meanwhile, would see their bills tick up by about 4.4%, according to the proposal. A hearing on the matter has been scheduled for March 10 at 6 p.m.

In Cranston, Aubee said she's concerned customers don't have enough control over their bills.

"I feel like we're fighting a losing battle," she said.

Tony Petrarca contributed to this report.