WARWICK – Gov. Daniel J. McKee on Monday signed an executive order that mandates state regulators to vet the financial impacts of several renewable energy programs the administration says now make up roughly one-quarter of ratepayer utility bills.
The order signed at the R.I. Division of Public Utilities and Carriers mandates an immediate review of the state’s net metering and Renewable Energy Growth programs, as well as a longer-term review to come up with potential policy and legislative options and deliver them by Oct. 1.
There will also be a comprehensive study of all state laws’ impacts on ratepayers, advised by senior research scholar Dr. Noah Kaufman of Columbia University.
A pillar of McKee’s fiscal 2027 budget proposal now before the General Assembly is a plan intended to eliminate or decrease programs, taxes and fees that now make up roughly 25% of ratepayer utility bills. Rhode Island currently has the fourth-highest residential electricity rates in the country.
McKee said he is hearing increasingly from constituents that the burden of energy costs have become one of their most significant hurdles.
“No more silent costs,” he said. “The landscape has changed.”
As part of McKee's order, The DPUC will also begin evaluating anticipated ratepayer impacts of all significant energy legislation under consideration by the General Assembly “to ensure that policy makers, stakeholders and the public have a clear and timely understanding of the potential effects of such proposals on utility rates, customer bills and overall energy affordability,” according to the language.
If proposed energy legislation “is sufficiently broad in scope, material in potential ratepayer impact, or sufficiently advanced in the legislative process,” the agency will prepare an official Ratepayer Impact Note.
McKee has argued the changes are necessary in response to federal policies.
"We can’t ask Rhode Island ratepayers to bear the brunt of Trump’s chaos in Washington.”
In 2023 alone, electricity suppliers, including Rhode Island Energy, spent nearly $60 million to meet a 23% renewable electricity requirement – an increase from approximately $8 million five years earlier when the standard was only 13%.
On Monday, several local business leaders in attendance shared their own struggles with energy bills.
Felix Brockmeyer, CEO of Igus Inc., said energy costs are hamstringing the ability to invest in other initiatives.
Once a minor footnote on the company’s balance sheet, the line item is now one “that I cannot just neglect anymore,” he said.
Craig Pickell, CEO of Bullard Abrasives, echoed those sentiments. He said the per kilowatt cost of energy usage is nowhere near as concerning as the combined costs and fees that the executive order targets.
“We are very concerned that this trend is going to continue,” he said.
McKee said his plan was not an abandonment of long-term renewable energy goals, but continuing on the current path would have reversed economic progress he said the state has made during his administration.
“The economy is virtually the most important thing,” he said.
But green energy advocates on Monday slammed McKee for what they feel is a pivot that will derail the state’s long-term renewable energy goals.
The Acadia Center, Climate Action RI, Clean Water Action, and the Green Energy Consumers Alliance issued a joint statement Monday, arguing that McKee is misdirecting blame for escalating energy prices and undermining the tools intended to protect ratepayers from volatile costs, calling the move “a glaring omission to report the costs of clean energy while ignoring all of the cost savings, one of the primary reasons for undertaking the energy transition in the first place.”
Christopher Allen is a PBN staff writer. You may contact him at Allen@PBN.com
