Rhode Island General Laws Title 39. Public Utilities and Carriers § 39-1-27.8. Supply procurement portfolio

Each electric distribution company shall submit a proposed supply procurement plan or plans to the commission not later than March 1, 2009, and each March 1 thereafter through March 1, 2018. The supply procurement plan or plans shall be consistent with the purposes of least-cost procurement and shall, as appropriate, take into account plans and orders with regard to system reliability and energy efficiency and conservation procurement. The supply procurement plan or plans will include the acquisition procedure, the pricing options being sought, and a proposed term of service for which standard-offer service will be acquired. The term of service may be of various, staggered term lengths and acquisitions may occur from time to time and for more than one supplier for segments of standard-offer load over different terms, if appropriate. There also may be separate procurement plans for residential and nonresidential classes or separate plans among nonresidential classes. All the components of the procurement plans shall be subject to commission review and approval. Once a procurement plan is approved by the commission, the electric distribution company shall be authorized to acquire standard-offer service supply consistent with the approved procurement plan and recover its costs incurred from providing standard-offer service pursuant to the approved procurement plan. The commission may periodically review the procurement plan to determine whether it should be prospectively modified due to changed market conditions. The commission shall have the authority and discretion to establish eligibility criteria by rate class, and approve special tariff conditions and rates proposed by the electric distribution company that the commission finds are in the public interest, including, without limitation: (1) short- and long-term optional service at different rates; (2) term commitments or notice provisions before individual customers leave standard-offer service; (3) standard-offer service rates for residential or any other special class of customers that are different than the rates for other standard-offer customers; (4) time of use commodity pricing for specified classes of customers, except residential customers; provided, however, that the commission may establish pilot programs for time of use commodity pricing for residential customers; and/or (5) standard-offer service rates that are designed to encourage any class of customers to purchase supply directly from the market.