The debate before the DPUC has centered on the question of unfavorable impact to the public. The last sale of a Rhode Island utility, the 2006 sale of Southern Union’s gas business to National Grid, set a precedent that the company must receive approval from the Division contingent upon a finding that the transaction will “not unfavorably impact the general public (including ratepayers)” (via Division order in D-06-13, p. ![]() In return for guaranteed profits, the utility accepts heavy regulatory oversight and the requirement to deliver safe, reliable energy. PPL clearly believes that it has an opportunity to profit from investments into the electric and gas infrastructure. Rhode Island’s electric and gas utilities are decoupled, which means that shareholders in the holding company profit from investments into the physical infrastructure (poles, wires, and pipes) of the gas and electric systems, rather than from increased sales of gas and electricity - this avoids an incentive to increase gas and electric sales, which would clearly be very bad from an efficiency and conservation standpoint. ![]() What makes Rhode Island’s utility businesses so appealing to PPL? In the investor-owned utility model, shareholders receive a guaranteed rate of return from a state-sanctioned monopoly. Last summer, it sold its UK businesses to National Grid for $10.7 billion as part of the same deal in which it has proposed to buy Rhode Island’s utility companies for $3.8 billion. PPL is a utility company based in Pennsylvania that operates gas and electric utilities in Pennsylvania and Kentucky and, until recently, the United Kingdom. In post-hearing briefs, all of the intervening parties besides PPL and National Grid argued that a sale to PPL would be bad for Rhode Island. (The Office of Energy Resources was an initial intervenor but has since dropped off the case). The other intervenors included the petitioners, the Division Advocacy Section, the Attorney General’s Office, Acadia Center, and Conservation Law Foundation. Since we last wrote about the PPL sale, Green Energy Consumers has been engaged in the case before the DPUC as an official “intervenor.” This means that we have had special status to submit expert testimony, ask questions of the petitioners, PPL and National Grid, and review confidential information. Within the next couple weeks, we should hear whether Hearing Officer John Spirito at Division of Public Utilities and Carriers (DPUC) has found reason to approve PPL as the new utility company for almost all Rhode Islanders. Unfortunately, the decision is not up to us. For that reason, Green Energy Consumers opposes the sale. That would cause net harm to the state and is not in the public interest. It is up to a state agency called the Division of Public Utilities and Carriers (DPUC) to prove that the sale will not cause "net harm" to consumers and the environment.Īnd after several months reviewing the sale, Green Energy Consumers is ready to declare: a sale to PPL would jeopardize Rhode Island’s ability to meet requirements of the 2021 Act on Climate. ![]() Rhode Island utility law stipulates that the sale must be consistent with the public interest past precedent has established that the sale must result in no net harm to the public. One of the biggest questions in Rhode Island’s clean energy future is on the verge of conclusion: will Pennsylvania-based utility PPL succeed in buying National Grid’s Rhode Island electric and gas utilities? If the sale goes through, PPL will become the new utility company for almost all Rhode Islanders. Although we think this was the wrong decision for Rhode Islanders, we will work with PPL, regulators, and the General Assembly to ensure that PPL can help the state meet its Act on Climate goals. Update (February 23, 2022): The Division of Public Utilities and Carriers issued an order today to approve the sale with no additional conditions. The RI Superior Court's review begins this month. And the Massachusetts Supreme Court granted Attorney General Healey's motion for a stay on a permit for the sale, which means that the transition to PPL is currently on hold. Last week, Attorney General Neronha appealed the Division's decision, which will bring it to the review of the Superior Court. ![]() Update (March 9, 2022): Green Energy Consumers Alliance strongly supports the work of RI Attorney General Peter Neronha and MA Attorney General Maura Healey to make sure this sale is fully vetted before being going through.
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