Forty-five people stormed the October 10 meeting of the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission (PUC) in Warwick, demanding new rules to make it easier to get their utilities turned back on.

The group, organized by the Coalition for Consumer Justice (CCJ), the George Wiley Center, ACORN, and six other low-income groups, wants the gas service that was turned off this summer to be restored before the cold weather begins. Utility companies aren't allowed to end service between November and May unless the bill of a delinquent customer exceeds $500.

One demonstrator, Sandra Cortez of Providence, is a single mother of five on welfare. She owed Providence Gas $1092 when the company shut her gas this summer. The company is demanding a $500 payment to restore service, an amount that Cortez says she can't afford. According to the PUC, the service that was stopped this summer by various utilities hasn't been restored for some 7000 Rhode Islanders.

To resolve this problem, advocates proposed in October 2000 that the PUC order the restoration of service for 10 percent of the outstanding bill after the first shut-off (35 percent is now required), and 25 percent to reverse a second shut-off (50 percent is now required). They also want something like a former federal program, which allowed poor people to pay a percentage of their income for utilities, with the government paying the rest.

The activists tried to enter a hearing room to speak with the PUC commissioners, who, the group charged, are dragging their feet on the 10 percent proposal. After some shouting and shoving, James Lanni, associate administrator for operations and consumer affairs, redirected the activists to an upstairs hearing room since the PUC was in the middle of a telephone rate hearing. "Some utility's corporate profit isn't as important as this woman's children," CCJ board member Jan Campbell shouted back. Pointing to a fellow protester, she added, "They're getting cold."

Later, PUC Commissioner Kate Racine met with the group and promised a hearing on October 23. Lanni also arranged next day shut-off hearing for individual demonstrators and urged them to call the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program for gas bill vouchers.

"Without this action today, none of this would have happened," said Henry Shelton, Wiley Center executive director. The group also wants Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse to call an energy summit to resolve the issue.

Narragansett Electric has endorsed a 10 percent plan, but Southern Union Company, the parent corporation of Providence Gas and Valley Gas, opposes the idea. Because gas is used for heat, Providence Gas' bills are higher than Narragansett Electric's, explains company spokesman Paul Fioravanti.

Issue Date: October 19 - 25, 2001