2022 -- S 2569

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LC005183

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2022

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CARRIERS -- PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION

     Introduced By: Senators Calkin, Mendes, Anderson, Bell, and Mack

     Date Introduced: March 10, 2022

     Referred To: Senate Commerce

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Chapter 39-1 of the General Laws entitled "Public Utilities Commission" is

hereby amended by adding thereto the following section:

     39-1-63. Burying of electric transmission power lines.

     (a) Whenever a residential customer of an electric transmission company loses electrical

power for a period of ninety-six (96) consecutive hours or more, the electric transmission company,

at their sole expense, shall formulate and execute a plan to bury the electric transmission lines

servicing that adversely affected residential customer, within two (2) years of the customer's ninety-

six (96) hours loss of electrical power.

     (b) The provisions of this section shall not apply if the experienced loss of electrical power

was caused by the action or inaction of the affected residential customer, or if the electrical power

to the residence was terminated by the customer or the electric transmission company.

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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LC005183

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CARRIERS -- PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION

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     This act would require an electric utility company to bury power lines for all residential

customers who have experienced ninety-six (96) or more consecutive hours of power outage, unless

the outage was caused by the resident.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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LC005183

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