The Rhode Island Division of Public Utilities and Carriers is recommending a 77-cent monthly heating-assistance charge on Rhode Island Energy customers for 2027, one cent below the 78 cents the state Department of Human Services requested, in a memo dated Nov. 12 and listed on the docket Nov. 13.
The Public Utilities Commission, which sets the charge, has not ruled. Reply comments from Human Services or Rhode Island Energy are due Nov. 17, and the public can send comments to the commission clerk at Stephanie.DeLaRosa@puc.ri.gov until 4 p.m. Nov. 20, according to the commission's procedural schedule. Intervention is not required to comment.
The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program enhancement charge was created in 2011 after federal funding fell, the Division's memo says. State law requires the commission to collect between $6.5 million and $7.5 million a year through a monthly charge on electric and gas customers, and no customer can pay more than $10 a year. The charge applies only to Rhode Island Energy customers, not those of Clear River Electric and Water District or Block Island Utility District.
The Division says collections exceeded the $7.5 million ceiling in the 12-month periods ending in August 2024, 2025 and 2026, with revenue of $7,528,554, $7,571,390 and $7,582,345. The charge dropped from 79 cents to 78 cents on Jan. 1, 2026. Rhode Island Energy estimates 2026 revenue at $7,545,903 and told the commission that 77 cents would raise about $7.44 million in 2027, according to the Division's memo. At 78 cents, the company projects about $7.54 million, in its Nov. 6 response to commission data requests.
By our arithmetic, 77 cents a month is $9.24 a year and 78 cents is $9.36.
Human Services told the Division it has set the 2027 enhancement grant at $400, up from $350 in 2026, and expects 20,715 grants: 4,990 to electric customers and 15,725 to gas customers. That would total $8,286,000, according to its Oct. 28 data response. The enhancement fund held $2,688,647 on Aug. 31, 2026. The Division said it supports using available funds to raise individual grants.
Human Services' Oct. 2 filing says its state plan defines eligibility at 60 percent of state median income. The docket is 26-34-GE.
