Newly introduced legislation in Rhode Island, H7677, would make several improvements to the state’s interconnection policies that are generally intended to expedite the process and protect DER customers. The bill would:

• Shorten several interconnection timelines, expediting the utilities’ response to developers;
• Increase the number of incremental employees a utility may hire dedicated to serving applicants and customers in connection with net metering and DERs;
• Require utilities to provide a detailed accounting ledger for all costs, line item charges including wages and benefits, consultants, materials equipment, overhead allocations, and any and all other charges funded by the customers; and
• Add to the list of damages and costs a utility would be required to pay under a court order that result from a utility failure to comply with interconnection regulations.