06/06: Donald L. Carcieri signed into law Senate Bill 2903 (SB 2903) which created an Office of Energy Resources as a successor to the state energy office. The new office was created to implement programs that promote the use of energy resources, develop energy programs in order to achieve and demonstrate the benefits of energy efficiency, and advise the governor and the general assembly on energy resource matters.
Source: State of Rhode Island General Assembly
http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/Billtext/BillText06/SenateText06/S2903.pdf

03/06: The Rhode Island Senate passed Senate Bill 2906 (SB 2906). The bill would require the proposed Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources to offer assistance to low and middle-income households so that they may become more energy efficient through weatherization and energy conservation projects.
Source: State of Rhode Island General Assembly
http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/Billtext/BillText06/SenateText06/S2906.pdf

03/06: The Rhode Island State Senate passed Senate Bill 2905 (SB 2905). The bill extended standard offer service through 2020 and integrates energy efficiency into procurement decisions.
Source: State of Rhode Island General Assembly
http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/Billtext/BillText06/SenateText06/S2905.pdf

07/02: The PUC proposed keeping Standard Offer Services rates at 4.662 cents/KWh, but Last Resort Services rates were proposed to rise from 6.365 cents/KWh to 7.481 cents/KWh in July and 7.496 cents/KWh in August.

06/02: House Bill 7786 was enacted. It changed the composition of the Public Utilities Commission, its membership, meetings, and hearings. The bill changed the number of commissioners to five instead of three, and three of the commissioners must be independent from any business regulated by the commission. The bill also amended the State's restructuring law, House Bill 8124. Utilities must offer Standard Offer Service (SOS) to customers not participating in retail competition until 2009, and Last Resort Service (LRS) to customer who left the competitive market. All SOS and LRS rates would be approved by the PSC. Starting January 1, 2003 and for the next 10 years, utilities would collect $0.000002 per kilowatthour "to fund demand side management programs and $0.0000003 per kilowatthour "to fund renewable energy programs." Municipal aggregation was also permitted.

05/01: The Rhode Island State Senate passed Senate Bill 881, an act that would enable nonresidential customers enrolled in last resort service the option to return to standard offer service. These customers were required to sign an agreement for 2 years prohibiting self-generation during non-emergency conditions and remarketing of purchased electricity.

04/01: The PUC approved an increase from 5.095 cents/kWh to 6.302 cents/kWh for standard offer rates for Narragansett Electric, beginning April 1, 2001.

02/01: The PUC released its annual report on electric restructuring to the State Legislature. According to the report, the number of customers leaving the competitive market and becoming Last Resort Service (LRS) customer "increased dramatically in 2000." In June 2000, LRS rates "moved gradually to the full market price" for nonresidential customers, but LRS rates were still the same as Standard Offer Services rates for residential customers.

10/00: The PUC approved a 10.6-percent increase request by Narragansett Electric. Standard offer rates were increased from 4.5 cents/kWh to 5.4 cents/kWh. A typical residential customer's bill was scheduled to be increased by about $4.50 per month. As part of its contract to purchase electricity for its customers, Narragansett paid a fuel surcharge when oil and natural gas prices increased.

09/00: The PUC approved an immediate rate increase of 4 percent for Narragansett Electric's 460,000 customers. Narragansett Electric filed an additional plan that would increase rates another 10 percent on October 1, 2000, if approved by the PUC. The requests were made in response to rising fuel prices. As part of its contract to purchase electricity for its customers, Narragansett would have to pay a fuel surcharge when oil and gas prices reach high levels.

07/00: The increased cost of fuel and wholesale power prompted the PUC to increase the standard offer rates from 3.8 cents/kWh to 4.1 cents/kWh. Default service rates were also increased to 4.5 cents/kWh. After June, default (or last resort) service rates were scheduled to be market-based.

09/99: As of June 1999, roughly about 2,000 customers out of the State's 456,000 chose alternative generation suppliers.

01/99: The standard offer rate increased from 3.2 cents per kilowatthour to 3.5 cents. The standard offer rate was scheduled to increase again to 3.8 cents in January 2000.

09/98: The completed sale of New England Electric System’s generation assets would result in increasing rate reductions, already 7 percent under the restructuring act, to a proposed 19 percent for Narragansett customers.

08/98: Narragansett proposed to cut rates 12.4 percent as a result of selling its power plants for $1.6 billion to US Generating Company.

05/98: The PUC approved a rate increase for Narragansett Electric Company for its standard offer rate from the current 3.2 cents/kWh to 7.1 cents/kWh by 2009. Similar increases were approved for Blackstone Valley and Newport Electric.

01/98: Retail access was implemented with 25 registered generation suppliers, but the standard offer interim rates (3.2 cents/kWh) offered by the State's investor owned utilities were low enough that no real competition has occurred.

12/97: The Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission (PUC) issued an order accepting interim rates and approving retail choice for all Rhode Island consumers on January 1, 1998.

08/96: The Rhode Island Utility Restructuring Act of 1996, House Bill 8124, allowed retail choice to be phased-in starting July 1997. In July 1997, Rhode Island became the first state to begin phase-in of statewide retail wheeling (for industrial customers). Residential consumers were scheduled to have retail access by July 1998.