Those are winter rates for RI Energy. The new program launches is in May, which is after Summer rates go into effect (April). Remains to be seen if this will be competitive. Since Providence is buying the energy from NextEra, which is RI Energy’s supplier, and considering RI Energy is not allowed to profit from supply, I don’t think you’re going to see even a cents worth of savings.

In the meantime, once the more boomer-friendly media outlets start running stories about this, it's important to make everyone out in the boonies think that they're tax dollars are subsidizing us all running grow lamps 24/7.

>Real change will come from us surging toward our renewable energy goals.

Or the people who hold back nuclear just shutting the fuck up. Cause we already have a pretty good stopgap solution that we just refuse to use to its full potential.

Check chat, my bad, I forgot they hit different boxes

it would be great if this was on a state level.

Didn't receive any PMs

I just PM’d you

To your first point all my friends live in the surrounding states so it's about a 2 hour drive for anyone. But your 2nd point makes sense I didn't even think about that. I'll give a call to the branch there and see if that an option also. Thank you!!

Pawtucket Arts Collaborative

And at my job we would definitely do this for a new employee, we know how hard it is to get a place.

I appreciate the info. I'll talk to the rental company and see if this is an option. The company was more worried about the tenant calling them constantly and complaining about the unit.

Do you know anyone in Providence who you can ask for a favor? I got my first place in here after my partner's ex-girlfriend's brother's best friend from high school went and took a look.

As a former agent, I would often get around this by having a “sight unseen” rider added to the lease, and having the customer sign it. I would then FaceTime the customer, and video a walk through of the exact unit prior to them signing the lease digitally.

An email of the video, notarized signature on the rider…never had an issue renting apartments in NYC this way. Landlords just wanted their ass covered.

Thanks for digging that up. It’s a better deal out of the gate, at least.

Is anyone at the ProJo looking into how this deal came about? I gather from other outlets that a few RI towns were involved in setting up the CCA program, so it’s not just a Providence thing. But I don’t think anyone has yet touched on how the vendor was chosen, which would be interesting to hear.

It appears the electric rate if you stick with RI Energy is 9.71 ¢/kWh

"Providence Basic:" 9.151 ¢/kWh

"Providence Standard (automatic)": 9.361 ¢/kWh

"Providence 50": 10.222 ¢/kWh

"Providence 100": 12.321 ¢/kWh

The landing page isn't great but here's the letter they sent out.

https://electricity.providenceri.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Providence-Residential-English-4.pdf

Edit: PBN has a story on this and there is also a thread, in this subreddit, on that story.

https://www.reddit.com/r/providence/comments/11g3nqb/city_to_introduce_providence_community/

Summer rates are already announced and can be found at the below link. Rates should be going down to 10.675 Cents/kWh in April for all RI Energy customers. I believe the PUC voted on this last fall with the fall time rate hike, but I could be wrong.

https://ripuc.ri.gov/utility-information/electric/national-grid-last-resort-service

That article conflates different subsidiaries of a corporate parent, which implies they’re acting in concert as part of some overarching strategy. More likely the different divisions are acting independently, and the parent company is little more than a diversified holding company.

Either way, it would be nice to have some actual facts instead of the innuendo GoLocal is peddling.

I'd be interested how that stacks up against PPL/National Grid.

I do love that GoLocal is trying to muster up outrage over conservative donations from a corporation.

Oh good, I’m glad the fine folks at GoLocal took it upon themselves to regurgitate the “Criticism” section of the parent company’s Wikipedia article.

In all seriousness: I’m curious how NextEra relates to “Good Energy”, which is the partner mentioned on the city’s info page. I’d also love to hear more about how the vendor was chosen, what the other options were, etc. All of which are leads I feel like a reputable news source would have chased in the interest of informing the public.

No, you're right, I misread. I thought it was saying it's 10% renewable, which is the state minimum, but that's clearly incorrect.

Renewables should theoretically have lower generation costs which would enable lower pricing, but then that doesn't square with the higher % renewable options being more expensive.

It's probably that and a little bit of trying to prevent their hand being forced quicker than they wanted.

Fossil-fuel companies aren't idiots. They know this stuff is the future but they don't want the government to force the issue before they're comfortable with it and they definitely don't want would-be competition to be subsidized in that process

Gotcha, thanks for the explanation I do now see your point about PVD Community vs RIE. I'm still hung up on this sentence though I suppose;

"The contract awarded to NextEra Energy Services sets the default supply and pricing provided to participating customers to include 10% more renewable energy than the state minimum."

That just seems at odds with;

"...and an option with only the minimum amount of renewable energy...."

What am I missing here? It seems like the default plan option, with the lowest % of renewables, is described as having the state minimum in one place and then described as having 10% more than the state minimum - do I just need another coffee?

> (and you're automatically opted in to it? Is that correct, the wording in article makes it seem that way)

Yes, that's how the "supplier of last resort" works; that's who supplies power to anyone who hasn't specifically chosen a provider.

> and then prices revert to the market rate

To be clear, it will be adjusted according to the energy market (like happens now with RIE), not set to equal the market rate or any other supplier.

> the electric option you've been opted into has a higher % of energy produced by renewables compared to RI Energy

The default supply is the state minimum % renewable; that can't be higher than RIE % renewable. edit: I misread, this is incorrect

> then couldn't you assume your bill after November will actually end up being higher then what you paid previously to RI Energy?

No, you can assume it will be cheaper, since a non-profit-taking entity (PVD Community Electricity) is replacing a profit-taking entity (RIE) in the process.

What the fuck.

Always Read GoLocal with some skepticism, but here you go: https://www.golocalprov.com/news/prov-residents-and-biz-are-getting-a-new-electricity-co.-supplier-has-been