Title 39, Title 39 Utilities and Carriers

(a) The Rhode Island infrastructure bank shall consult with the office of energy resources to promulgate rules and regulations, in accordance with this section, and in accordance with chapter 35 of title 42. Such rules and regulations should ensure that the PACE program does not …

As used in this chapter, the following definitions apply: (1) “Commercial property” means a property operated for commercial purposes, or a residential property that contains five (5) or more housing units. (2) “Distributed-generation system” means an electrical-generation facili…

A town or city council by resolution may designate the municipality as a “PACE municipality.”

(a) The Rhode Island infrastructure bank or a third-party capital provider may enter into a financing agreement with a qualifying PACE property owner. After such agreement is entered into, and upon notice from the Rhode Island infrastructure bank, the PACE municipality shall: (i)…

A PACE property owner may enter into a contract for the installation or construction of a project relating to renewable energy as defined in § 39-26-5, or relating to energy efficiency as defined in § 39-1-27.7 or as defined by the Rhode Island infrastructure bank pursuant to reg…

(a) A PACE lien on a residential property shall be: subordinate to all liens on the residential property in existence at the time the residential PACE lien is filed; subordinate to a first mortgage on the residential property recorded after the PACE lien is filed; and superior to…

(a) The Rhode Island infrastructure bank is hereby authorized to create, set up on its books, and administer one or more PACE funds for the purpose of providing financial assistance to residential and commercial property owners for PACE projects. Additionally, the Rhode Island in…

The Rhode Island infrastructure bank shall: (1) Publish on its website a list of the types of PACE-eligible energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other projects as defined in rules and regulations promulgated under § 39-26.5-11; (2) Provide information concerning implementatio…

The Rhode Island infrastructure bank shall determine compliance with the underwriting criteria, standards, and procedures set forth in the rules and regulations promulgated in accordance with this chapter and shall include an accounting of the PACE program in the annual report du…

The purpose of this chapter is to enable the state to meet its climate and resilience goals, including those established in the act on climate. This includes the goals to facilitate and promote installation of grid-connected generation of renewable energy; support and encourage d…

(a) The electric distribution company shall file with the commission the first set of tariffs and solicitation rules pursuant to this chapter no later than November 15, 2014. Thereafter, the electric distribution company shall make tariff and solicitation rules filings with the c…

The distributed-generation growth program shall be implemented and administered exclusively through the tariff structure and procedures set forth in this chapter, and the electric distribution company shall not be required to execute power purchase agreements for the procurement …

(a) The electric distribution company, in consultation with the board and office, shall conduct at least three (3) tariff enrollments for each distributed-generation class each program year. (b) During each program year, the tariff enrollments shall have both an annual targeted a…

To the extent the electric distribution company incurs incremental costs to meet the program objectives or make billing system improvements that are required to facilitate payments of performance-based incentives and administering net metering, the electric distribution company m…

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to derogate from the statutory authority of the commission or the division of public utilities and carriers, including, but not limited to, the authority to protect ratepayers from unreasonable rates. Nothing in this chapter shall be con…

(a) Large-scale and commercial-scale solar projects and distributed-generation projects for other eligible technologies shall bid a price-per-kilowatt-hour for the entire output of the facility (net of any station service) that shall not exceed the applicable ceiling price. Small…

(a) Each enrollment shall be open for a two-week (2) period during which the electric distribution company is required to receive standard short-form applications. The standard short-form application shall require the applicant to provide the following information: the project ow…

The electric distribution company shall not be required to award bids in excess of the annual target for the applicable program year and shall not be required to procure projects in excess of any limit set by the board and approved by the commission for a given enrollment. Howeve…

Owners of medium-scale, commercial-scale, and large-scale solar projects and other distributed-generation technologies shall be required to provide, at their cost, a revenue-quality meter to standards approved by the division of public utilities and carriers and provide access to…

(a) In consultation with the office, the electric distribution company may make a request to the commission that up to half of the megawatts for the small- and medium-scale solar project enrollments be allocated by the commission for selection through a process coordinated with t…

To carry out these purposes, a tariff-based, renewable energy distributed-generation financing program, hereinafter referred to as the renewable energy growth program, is hereby established with the intention of continuing the development of renewable energy distributed generatio…

(a) For small-scale and medium-scale solar projects, the electric distribution company shall provide certificates of eligibility to the selected projects without commission confirmation of approval (“distribution company awarded certificates”), subject to the review and consent o…

(a) Except as provided herein for residential small-scale solar projects, distributed-generation projects participating in the renewable energy growth program shall transfer to the electric distribution company the rights and title to: (1) Those renewable energy certificates gene…

In order to provide the electric distribution company and the board with the flexibility to encourage distributed-generation projects to be located in designated geographical areas within its load zone where there is an identifiable system benefit, reliability benefit, or cost sa…

(a) Net-metering credits for excess generation shall not be credited during the term of the tariff when the distributed-generation project is receiving performance-based incentive payments under the tariff. After the end of the term of the performance-based incentive tariff appli…

(a) On or after July 1, 2015, the commission shall open a docket to consider rate design and distribution cost allocation among rate classes in light of net metering and the changing distribution system that is expected to include more distributed-energy resources, including, but…

(a) On or before November 15 of each year, the electric distribution company shall file a forecast of the total amount of payments that is likely to be paid out to distributed-generation projects in the coming program year within the electric distribution company’s load zone, alo…

(a) In order to facilitate the adoption of solar by customers in multifamily structures, campuses, multi-structure business parks, multi-tenant or multi-owner commercial facilities, and public entities with multiple accounts, the electric distribution company may establish rules …

(a) In order to facilitate the adoption of participation in renewable energy projects by eligible customers, the board may allocate a portion of the annual MW goal to a separate class, or classes, of community remote distributed-generation systems, which may compete under separat…

When used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: (1) “Board” shall mean the distributed-generation board as established pursuant to the provisions of § 39-26.2-10 under the title distributed generation standard contract board, but shall also fulfi…

(a) The distributed generation standard contract board shall remain fully constituted and authorized as provided in chapter 26.2 of this title; provided, however, that the name shall be changed to the “distributed-generation board.” Additional purposes of the board shall be to: (…

(a) Each year the electric distribution company shall file tariffs with the commission that are designed to provide a multiyear stream of performance-based incentives to eligible renewable-distributed-generation projects for a term of years, under terms and conditions set forth i…

It is the intention of the general assembly in enacting this chapter that the developers, owners, investors, customers, and lenders of the distributed-generation projects receiving performance-based incentives under the tariffs be able to rely on the tariffs for the entire term o…

(a) Tariff(s) shall be proposed for each of the following solar distributed-generation classes: (1) Small-scale solar projects; (2) Medium-scale solar projects; (3) Commercial-scale solar projects; and (4) Large-scale solar projects. (b) Such classes of solar distributed-generati…

Tariffs also shall be proposed for on-shore wind and any other distributed-generation technologies permissible under this chapter that the board, in its discretion, recommends; provided, however, that no project shall exceed five megawatts (5 MW) nameplate capacity. The electric …

In no case may a project developer be allowed to segment a distributed-generation project on the same parcel or contiguous parcels into smaller-sized projects in order to fall under a smaller-size project classification. Notwithstanding this prohibition, a project developer may d…

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the “nonregulated power producer consumer bill of rights.”

The purpose of this act is to assist consumers in making an informed choice of a nonregulated power producer.

When used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: (1) “Commission” means the Rhode Island public utilities commission. (2) “Division” means the division of public utilities and carriers. (3) “Nonregulated power producer” shall have the same meaning…

(a) On or before September 1, 2016, the division shall initiate a docket to redesign the standard billing format for residential customers to better enable residential customers to compare pricing policies and charges of nonregulated power producers to the standard-offer service …

(a) An electric distribution company shall transfer a residential customer to the standard-offer service rate not later than the next billing cycle after receipt of a request from a residential customer eligible for standard-offer service. (b) The electric distribution company sh…

(a) No contract for electric generation services by a nonregulated power producer shall require a residential customer to pay any fee for termination or early cancellation of a contract in excess of fifty dollars ($50.00), or twice the estimated bill for energy services for an av…

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as “Labor Standards in Renewable Energy Projects.”

If any provision of this chapter or the application thereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the chapter, which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end th…

For the purposes of this chapter: (1) “Approved apprenticeship program” or “apprenticeship program” means an apprenticeship program that has been approved by the U.S. Department of Labor, or by a recognized state apprenticeship agency, pursuant to 29 C.F.R. Parts 29 and 30; howev…

(a) When a covered project receives any financial incentives, tax relief, or subsidies from the state or any of its subdivisions or quasi-public agencies, the developer and its contractors shall enter into a labor peace agreement with the unions constructing the project. (b) All …