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6/10/2026
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Senate approves Sen. DiMario resolution to direct the PUC to examine gas line extension policy
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STATE HOUSE — The Senate today approved a resolution from Sen. Alana M. DiMario urging the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission to examine the impact of gas line extension allowances and determine whether these allowances should continue.
The resolution (2026-S 2354A) notes that the Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council’s 2025 Climate Action Strategy to meet Rhode Island’s obligations under the Act on Climate requires a significant shift from gas to electric systems to heat homes and buildings, a goal that may not be compatible with the current gas line extension policy, under which the cost to build a new gas line has no up-front cost to the customer, compared to new electrical hookups, which customers must pay for up-front.
The resolution also raises the concern that extending natural gas infrastructure means increasing future maintenance costs that will be passed along to ratepayers, potentially leaving them on the hook to pay for infrastructure that, given the state’s mandate to decrease carbon emissions, may become useless far earlier than the current financing structure anticipates.
Finally, the resolution requests that the PUC address this concern during the current rate-case docket opened by Rhode Island Energy (Docket 25-45-GE) to adjust distribution rates and ratepayer tariffs.
“There hasn’t been a rate-case docket since 2017, and a lot has changed in the world and in Rhode Island, including the passage of the Act on Climate,” said Senator DiMario (D-Dist. 36, Narragansett, North Kingstown, New Shoreham). “Yet we still have in place an outdated financing structure that incentivizes expanding natural gas lines for new construction. This resolution requests that the PUC determine whether that financing structure is still appropriate under the current conditions with updated, more realistic assumptions about how long those assets are going to be in use. Of particular concern to us is whether those costs are going to inappropriately socialized among other ratepayers when those assets are stranded and no longer useful due to the decarbonizing efforts the state is making to meet our Act on Climate goals.”
For more information, contact:
Tristan Grau, Publicist
State House Room B20
Providence, RI 02903
401.222.4935
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