§ 39-2-26. Emergency response plans.
Submission, approval, penalties for failure to file, and denial of recovery of service
restoration costs for failure to implement emergency response plan.
(a) Each electric distribution company and natural gas distribution company conducting
business in the state shall, on or before May 15, 2022, and annually thereafter, submit
to the division an emergency response plan for review and approval. The emergency
response plan shall be designed for the reasonably prompt restoration of service in
the case of an emergency event, which is an event where widespread outages have occurred
in the service area of the company due to storms or other causes beyond the control
of the company.
(b) After review of an electric distribution or natural gas distribution company's emergency
response plan, the division may request that the company amend the plan. The division
may open an investigation of the company's plan. If, after hearings, the division
finds a material deficiency in the plan, the division may order the company to make
such modifications that it deems reasonably necessary to remedy the deficiency.
(c) Any investor-owned electric distribution or natural gas distribution company that
fails to file its emergency response plan may be fined five hundred dollars ($500)
for each day during which the failure continues. Any fines levied by the division
shall be returned to ratepayers through distribution rates in a manner determined
by the commission.
(d) Each investor-owned electric distribution or natural gas distribution company, when
implementing an emergency response plan, shall designate an employee or employees
to remain stationed at the Rhode Island emergency management agency's emergency operations
center for the duration of the emergency when the emergency operations center is activated
in response to an emergency with an electric or gas service restoration component.
In the event of a virtual activation of the emergency activation center, each investor-owned
electric and natural gas distribution company shall designate an employee or employees
to participate in the virtual activation. The employee or employees shall coordinate
communications efforts with designated local and state emergency management officials,
as required by this section.
(e) Each investor-owned electric distribution or natural gas distribution company, when
implementing an emergency response plan, shall designate an employee or employees
to serve as community liaisons for each municipality within their service territory.
An investor-owned electric distribution or natural gas distribution company shall
provide each community liaison with the necessary feeder map or maps outlining municipal
substations and distribution networks and up-to-date customer outage reports at the
time of designation as a community liaison. An investor-owned electric distribution
or natural gas distribution company shall, at a minimum, provide each community liaison
with three (3) customer outage report updates for each twenty-four-hour (24) period,
to the liaison's respective city or town. The community liaison shall utilize the
maps and outage reports to respond to inquiries from state and local officials and
relevant regulatory agencies.
(f) On or before October 1 of each year, every city or town shall notify each investor-owned
electric distribution or natural gas distribution company and the Rhode Island emergency
management agency of the name of the emergency management official or designee responsible
for coordinating the emergency response during storm restoration. If a municipality
does not have a designated emergency management official, the chief municipal officer
shall designate one public safety official responsible for said emergency response.
(g) Notwithstanding any existing power or authority, the division may open an investigation
to review the performance of any investor-owned electric distribution or natural gas
distribution company in restoring service during an emergency event. If, after evidentiary
hearings or other investigatory proceedings, the division finds that, as a result
of the failure of the company to follow its approved emergency response plan, the
length of the outages were materially longer than they would have been but for the
company's failure, the division shall recommend that the commission enter an order
denying the recovery of all, or any part of, the service restoration costs through
distribution rates, commensurate with the degree and impact of the service outage.
(h) Notwithstanding any general or special law or rule or regulation to the contrary,
upon request by the commission, division and any emergency management agency each
electric distribution or natural gas distribution company conducting business in the
state shall provide periodic reports regarding emergency conditions and restoration
performance during an emergency event consistent with orders of the commission and/or
division.