More Than 450,000 Rhode Island Energy Electric Customers Get About $61 in Winter Relief Credits on Top of Monthly Bill Credits
Rhode Island Energy’s residential electric customers are heading into winter with two kinds of help on their bills. More than 450,000 of them are set to receive about $61 each in winter relief credits during the coldest months, on top of a separate set of monthly credits scheduled from October through next September.
The winter relief comes from $28 million in emergency energy assistance that Gov. Dan McKee directed in July, paid for with the state’s share of Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative proceeds, according to a release from the governor’s office. The monthly credits come from a separate settlement tied to the utility’s ownership.
The $61 winter credit
The governor’s office said the $28 million will be paid as direct bill credits to more than 450,000 residential electric customers during the peak winter months. That works out to about $61 for the average residential customer.
Neither the governor’s release nor the commission coverage describes an application. The money is applied to the electric bill as a credit rather than sent as a check.
The $61 figure is an average. The release did not list a per-customer formula or say which billing months will carry the credit beyond describing them as the peak of winter.
The monthly credits on top
The second layer is larger. The Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission approved more than $170 million in bill credits on Aug. 21, according to the governor’s office, as part of its decision in the utility’s rate case.
Rhode Island Energy, which is owned by PPL Corp., confirmed on Aug. 25 that it would put the credits in place. In its announcement, the company said electric customers would see credits of about $14 a month from October 2026 through September 2027, and natural gas customers would see credits of about $51 beginning in December 2026 and running through April 2027.
The company called them “Hold Harmless” credits and said they fulfill a 2022 commitment to protect customers from certain tax-related effects of PPL’s purchase of the Rhode Island utility. The credits have a net present value of nearly $170 million, the company said. Rhode Island Energy serves more than 770,000 electric and gas customers combined.
McKee said the bill credits would entirely offset the proposed winter electric rate increases and significantly offset the gas increase, WPRI reported. For a household with both services, the electric and gas credits overlap for five months, from December through April.
How the credits were fought over
The final amount was larger than first proposed. Attorney General Peter Neronha’s office said in a statement on the decision that an earlier $148 million deal proposed by the company and the governor could have shortchanged ratepayers by up to $39 million, and that the company withdrew it after his office challenged it.
The commission approved the $170 million in credits only if the company used a customer-centric discount rate, which added $21.3 million, according to the attorney general’s office. The office said the outcome brings more than $20 million in additional gas and electric credits to customers.
The commission also cut the utility’s rate request. What’s Up Newp reported that regulators denied the company’s request to raise its allowed return on equity to 10.75%, rejected a proposed 57% equity share in favor of roughly 52%, and disallowed more than $9.4 million in IT and software costs. The commission also rejected a two-year rate plan that would have triggered a second increase in 2028.
Regulators also rejected more than $2 million in interconnection infrastructure costs and required shareholders to contribute roughly $1 million a year toward the company’s Johnston offices until the next rate case, with no profit allowed on the setup’s capital costs, the outlet reported. The commission gave the utility until Aug. 25 to say whether it would go ahead with the credits, set compliance schedules for Aug. 27 and scheduled final approval for Aug. 31. The company’s Aug. 25 announcement confirmed it would proceed.
What else changes on Rhode Island bills
The same decision approved a new winter rate design that lowers per-kilowatt-hour charges for all residential electric customers, the outlet reported. A new low-income electric discount is expected to start in January 2027.
The governor’s office said the separate bill credits come from a settlement secured by the Division of Public Utilities and Carriers, which accelerates savings PPL agreed to pass on when it acquired The Narragansett Electric Co. in 2022. The commission declined to move forward with an administration proposal to lower the company’s profits, the release said.
The site has tracked similar utility credits elsewhere, including New Jersey’s larger monthly USF credit and Nebraska’s extra time before gas shutoffs.
For a Rhode Island Energy household with electric service only, the winter adds up to roughly $14 a month in hold harmless credits plus about $61 in winter relief, all applied directly to the bill.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Image: Kenneth C. Zirkel – CC BY 4.0/Wikimedia Commons
