PROVIDENCE – The Providence office of the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) last week said the R.I. Public Utilities Commission’s rejection of a proposal to “decouple” gas prices will harm both consumers and the environment.
The three-member panel voted 2-1 last month to reject the proposal, which would have protected National Grid from revenue shortfalls if customers used less gas than was anticipated. The two PUC members voting against the proposal said that decoupling regulations yield no proven positive impact on energy conservation.
Under current rate structures, the utility is penalized when customers use less gas than expected. Decoupling breaks the link between a utility company’s volume of sales and profits. The current system, environmental and consumer advocates say, gives National Grid no incentive to promote conservation.
“Decoupling is an important step forward in the fight against climate change,” said Jerry Elmer, the CLF staff attorney who litigated the case for CLF at the PUC. “Decoupling would have been good for consumers because it would have lowered utility bills, and it would have been good for the environment because it would have removed a major obstacle to conservation and efficiency.”
Elmer vowed that CLF will continue the fight for decoupling in Rhode Island in 2009, when the PUC considers electricity prices. •
