Improving Our Supply of Electricity: Better Energy Options

Rhode Island is well positioned for investments in renewable energy that will add to our energy independence and reduce harmful emissions. Local companies stand ready to help you evaluate opportunities to generate clean energy at your home or business – see the Office of Energy Resources’s list. They’ll tell you about funds that can reduce the cost of generating renewable energy on site, and how long it will take to recover that investment before your electricity comes free of charge. For details about what these funds can do and how to use them, see the “RI Programs for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy” section.

The Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy Program offers auditing services and attractive financing terms to improve the energy profile of commercial buildings (see https://ri-cpace.com/about/). If you own or rent commercial property, sign up for an audit to learn where you could be saving money and reducing your use of fossil fuels.

If you can’t add a solar or wind installation to your property right now, and you have National Grid’s Basic Service (check your electric bill), you can still get your electricity from renewable sources through People’s Power and Light. The pricing guide for their options is here: read it to find out which is right for you. The service costs about $10-$20 extra per month, which you can write off on your tax return.

All of Rhode Island’s energy development at this point needs to be in renewable energy, not fossil fuels, whether it’s pressure on National Grid, our main energy supplier, to focus on renewables, or investment in community aggregation, which allows towns to choose renewable sources for more of their energy.