Rhode Island General Laws 39-1.1-2. Determination of persons subject to nontermination
(a) The commission shall promulgate appropriate rules and regulations to determine which persons who are elderly, disabled, or seriously ill are subject to the nontermination provisions of § 39-1.1-1, and in what manner relief will be made available to the subject persons.
Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 39-1.1-2
- Commission: means the public utilities commission. 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
- Division: means the division of public utilities and carriers. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
- in writing: include printing, engraving, lithographing, and photo-lithographing, and all other representations of words in letters of the usual form. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-16
- person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
- 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) Rules and regulations maintained to determine which persons are seriously ill shall include the provision that said determination shall be through certification to the public utility or to the division of public utilities and carriers by a licensed physician.
(1) A licensed physician’s certification of serious illness shall be sufficient if initially made by telephone. In such event, the public utility or the division, whichever received initial certification, shall inform the certifying physician that he or she must forward to the public utility within seven (7) days a written certification indicating the name and address of the seriously ill person, the nature of the illness, and its likely duration. The public utility shall acknowledge receipt of such written certification and shall notify the customer in writing of the date upon which service will be terminated, unless the customer: (i) Has arranged for payment of an outstanding amount with the public utility, pursuant to rules and regulations promulgated by the commission; (ii) Requests a hearing, pursuant to rules and regulations promulgated by the commission; or (iii) Enrolls in a residential payment plan or other payment arrangement. The termination date shall be not less than three (3) weeks from receipt by the public utility of the written certification. If the duration of the illness exceeds three (3) weeks from the certification to the public utility, the customer may request a review pursuant to rules and regulations promulgated by the commission, to determine whether the initial exemption shall continue, for how long, and under what circumstances.
(2) A public utility must honor a licensed physician’s certification of serious illness, but may seek division review of the validity of the certification, pursuant to rules and regulations promulgated by the commission. If a licensed physician’s certification does not comply with the requirements promulgated by the commission and is rejected by a public utility, the public utility shall inform the customer immediately, in writing, of the reasons for rejection of the certification and the customer’s right to have the division review the utility’s rejection of the certification.
(3) Nontermination for any reason does not, in any way, relieve the customer of liability incurred for utility services.
History of Section.
P.L. 1979, ch. 410, art. 5, § 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.