Rhode Island General Laws 39-1.1-1. Compliance with rules prior to termination
(a) No public utility that distributes electricity or supplies natural or manufactured gas, electric, or water service shall terminate service to any household in which all adult residents are sixty-five (65) years of age or older, or where any resident is disabled or seriously ill, for failure to pay an outstanding indebtedness for service, without first complying with all rules and regulations for such terminations issued by the commission.
Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 39-1.1-1
- Commission: means the public utilities commission. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
- Company: means and includes a person, firm, partnership, corporation, quasi-municipal corporation, association, joint-stock association or company, and his, her, its, or their lessees, trustees, or receivers appointed by any court. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
- Customer: means a company taking service from an electric distribution company at a single point of delivery or meter location. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
- Electric distribution company: means a company engaging in the distribution of electricity or owning, operating, or controlling distribution facilities and shall be a public utility pursuant to subsection (20) of this section. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
- Natural gas: means the combustible, gaseous mixture of low-molecular-weight, paraffin hydrocarbons, generated below the surface of the earth, containing mostly methane and ethane with small amounts of propane, butane, and hydrocarbons, and sometimes nitrogen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and helium. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
- Public utility: means and includes every company that is an electric distribution company and every company operating or doing business in intrastate commerce and in this state as a railroad, street railway, common carrier, gas, liquefied natural gas, water, telephone, telegraph, and pipeline company, and every company owning, leasing, maintaining, managing, or controlling any plant or equipment, or any part of any plant or equipment, within this state for manufacturing, producing, transmitting, distributing, delivering, or furnishing natural or manufactured gas, directly or indirectly, to or for the public, or any cars or equipment employed on, or in connection with, any railroad or street railway for public or general use within this state, or any pipes, mains, poles, wires, conduits, fixtures, through, over, across, under, or along any public highways, parkways, or streets, public lands, waters, or parks for the transmission, transportation, or distribution of gas for sale to the public for light, heat, cooling, or power for providing audio or visual telephonic or telegraphic communication service within this state, or any pond, lake, reservoir, stream, well, or distributing plant or system employed for the distribution of water to the consuming public within this state, including the water supply board of the city of Providence; provided, that, except as provided in § 39-16-9 and in P. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
(b) A natural gas distribution company or an electric distribution company as defined in § 39-1-2(a)(12), but not including the Block Island Power Company or the Pascoag Utility District, shall not shut off service to a household eligible for LIHEAP if the customer‘s outstanding bill is three hundred dollars ($300) or less and not more than two (2) months in arrears. Service may not be terminated unless two (2) notices of termination have been sent.
History of Section.
P.L. 1979, ch. 410, art. 5, § 1; P.L. 1996, ch. 316, § 1; P.L. 1999, ch. 83, § 87; P.L. 1999, ch. 130, § 87; P.L. 2011, ch. 382, § 5; P.L. 2011, ch. 404, § 5.