2019 -- S 0261

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2019

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CARRIERS -- DUTIES OF UTILITIES AND

CARRIERS

     Introduced By: Senators Picard, Euer, and DiPalma

     Date Introduced: February 13, 2019

     Referred To: Senate Commerce

     (Lieutenant Governor)

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Chapter 39-2 of the General Laws entitled "Duties of Utilities and Carriers"

is hereby amended by adding thereto the following sections:

     39-2-26. Emergency response plans - Submission, approval, penalties for failure to

file, and denial of recovery of service restoration costs for failure to implement emergency

response plan.

     (a) Each electric distribution company and natural gas distribution company conducting

business in the state shall, on or before May 15, 2020 and annually thereafter, submit to the

division an emergency response plan for review and approval. The emergency response plan shall

be designed for the reasonably prompt restoration of service in the case of an emergency event,

which is an event where widespread outages have occurred in the service area of the company

due to storms or other causes beyond the control of the company.

     (b) After review of an electric distribution or natural gas distribution company's

emergency response plan, the division may request that the company amend the plan. The

division may open an investigation of the company's plan. If, after hearings, the division finds a

material deficiency in the plan, the division may order the company to make such modifications

that it deems reasonably necessary to remedy the deficiency.

     (c) Any investor-owned electric distribution or natural gas distribution company that fails

to file its emergency response plan may be fined five hundred dollars ($500) for each day during

which such failure continues. Any fines levied by the division shall be returned to ratepayers

through distribution rates in a manner determined by the commission.

     (d) Each investor-owned electric distribution or natural gas distribution company, when

implementing an emergency response plan, shall designate an employee or employees to remain

stationed at the Rhode Island emergency management agency's emergency operations center for

the duration of the emergency when the emergency operations center is activated in response to

an emergency with an electric or gas service restoration component. In the event of a virtual

activation of the emergency activation center, each investor-owned electric and natural gas

distribution company shall designate an employee or employees to participate in the virtual

activation. The employee or employees shall coordinate communications efforts with designated

local and state emergency management officials, as required by this section.

     (e) Each investor-owned electric distribution or natural gas distribution company, when

implementing an emergency response plan, shall designate an employee or employees to serve as

community liaisons for each municipality within their service territory. An investor-owned

electric distribution or natural gas distribution company shall provide each community liaison

with the necessary feeder map or maps outlining municipal substations and distribution networks

and up-to-date customer outage reports at the time of designation as a community liaison. An

investor-owned electric distribution or natural gas distribution company shall, at a minimum,

provide each community liaison with three (3) customer outage report updates for each twenty-

four (24) hour period, to the liaison's respective city or town. The community liaison shall utilize

the maps and outage reports to respond to inquiries from state and local officials and relevant

regulatory agencies.

     (f) On or before October 1 of each year, every city or town shall notify each investor-

owned electric distribution or natural gas distribution company and the Rhode Island emergency

management agency of the name of the emergency management official or designee responsible

for coordinating the emergency response during storm restoration. If a municipality does not have

a designated emergency management official, the chief municipal officer shall designate one

public safety official responsible for said emergency response.

     (g) Notwithstanding any existing power or authority, the division may open an

investigation to review the performance of any investor-owned electric distribution or natural gas

distribution company in restoring service during an emergency event. If, after evidentiary

hearings or other investigatory proceedings, the division finds that, as a result of the failure of the

company to follow its approved emergency response plan, the length of the outages were

materially longer than they would have been but for the company's failure, the division shall

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recommend that the commission enter an order denying the recovery of all, or any part of, the

service restoration costs through distribution rates, commensurate with the degree and impact of

the service outage.

     (h) Notwithstanding any general or special law or rule or regulation to the contrary, upon

request by the commission, division and any emergency management agency each electric

distribution or natural gas distribution company conducting business in the state shall provide

periodic reports regarding emergency conditions and restoration performance during an

emergency event consistent with orders of the commission and/or division.

     39-2-27. Standards of acceptable performance for emergency preparation and

restoration of service.

     The division shall open a docket and establish standards of acceptable performance for

emergency preparation and restoration of service for each investor-owned electric and gas

distribution company doing business in the state. The division shall levy a penalty not to exceed

one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) for each violation for each day that the violation of the

division's standards persists; provided, however, that the maximum penalty shall not exceed

seven million five hundred thousand dollars ($7,500,000) for any related series of violations. The

division shall open a full investigation, upon its own initiative. Nothing herein shall prohibit any

affected city or town from filing a complaint with the division regarding a violation of the

division's standards of acceptable performance by an investor-owned electric distribution or

natural gas distribution company; provided, however, that said petition shall be filed with the

division no later than ninety (90) days after the violation has been remedied. After an initial

review of the complaint, the division shall make a determination as to whether to open a full

investigation.

     39-2-28. Levied penalties to be credited back to customers.

     Any penalty levied by the division against an investor-owned electric distribution or

natural gas distribution company for any violation of the division's standards of acceptable

performance for emergency preparation and restoration of service for electric and gas distribution

companies shall be credited back to the company's customers in a manner determined by the

commission.

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CARRIERS -- DUTIES OF UTILITIES AND

CARRIERS

***

     This act would require every electric distribution company and natural gas distribution

company conducting business in the state would, on or before May 15, 2020, and annually

thereafter, submit to the division of public utilities and carriers an emergency response plan for

review and approval. The act would also authorize the assessment of monetary penalties to each

investor-owned electric and gas distribution company doing business in the state when the

company does not comply with the division's requirements for responding to and restoring utility

service to customers.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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