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| ARTICLE 8 |
RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CARRIERS
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| 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, 2022, 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 the 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 |
| (24) 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 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 the 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 article shall take effect upon passage. |