Latest news with #JoyceFiore
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15-03-2025
- Sport
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Utility bill revolt; Social Security anxiety; March Madness in RI: Top stories this week
Here are some of The Providence Journal's most-read stories for the week of March 9, supported by your subscriptions. Thursday marked the fifth anniversary of Rhode Island's descent into COVID lockdown as the novel coronavirus upended daily life in every way, shuttering businesses and schools, canceling or limiting social gatherings and ultimately killing more than 4,450 people. The Journal takes stock of what medical professionals learned from that experience that positions the state to handle the next pandemic; how the endurance of remote work has reshaped the labor market and hollowed out downtowns; and how well students have recovered from learning losses associated with the shutdown. For the first time in nine years, Providence will host eight of the top men's basketball teams in the country next week. Here's a look back at the last time the Big Dance came to town – in a perfect storm that collided with St. Patrick's Day revelry and a building trades convention. Want to bet on the games? Here's how. And we look back at the played in Providence. For that and more and sports news, go to . Speaking of St. Patrick's Day, here's how you can join in the fun, with parades today in Newport and tomorrow in West Warwick and Little Compton (where a testy interstate dispute about whether this event is really the world's shortest St. Patrick's Day parade is part of the show). Not to forget St. Joseph's Day on March 19, here's where to get your zeppole and how to vote for the best zeppole in Rhode Island. Voting in the first round bracket continues through 11:59 p.m. Sunday. Here are the week's top reads on A hearing Monday night in Warwick was supposed to be about proposals that would see a net decrease in energy bills for most Rhode Islanders, but it sure didn't feel like it. Beforehand, protesters rallied outside the offices of state utilities regulators to complain about Rhode Island Energy's prices, and during the standing-room-only hearing, speaker after speaker aimed criticism at the state's largest gas and electric utility. Joyce Fiore was one of several customers who brought their bills up to the podium to read off the skyrocketing numbers. Her electric bill jumped from $164 in December to $580 in February, she said. 'I've lived in Cranston for close to 50 years now, and I've never seen bills like this,' she told the two members of the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission who were present at the hearing. Read the full story to see what Rhode Island is proposing to bring relief from high utility bills Local news: 'I can't afford it anymore.' Rhode Islanders slam utility and high costs of energy Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, the ex-administrator of the Social Security Administration, said he knows why President Donald Trump is letting Elon Musk's minions at the Department of Government Efficiency "break" Social Security from the inside out – and he hopes people "wake up, rise up" before it's too late. Appearing with U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse on a virtual "town hall" on Tuesday night, O'Malley ‒ who has predicted benefit interruptions within 90 days ‒ told the audience: "They're gutting it. They're breaking it from the inside to make it incapable of serving the American people who paid for it and who paid for the customer service. I do believe they want to break it so they can liquidate it, because they want those trust fund dollars ... the $2.7 trillion that is built up in that trust fund reserve, intentionally." The full story offers details about O'Malley's prediction of benefit interruptions and Whitehouse's proposed fix to indefinitely extend the solvency of Social Security. Government: Martin O'Malley joined Sheldon Whitehouse to raise the alarm on Social Security. Maybe Rhode Island's state auditors should take a cue from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and start loudly crowing about all the government waste they've found. It might get people to pay attention, or even just realize they exist. Last year, the Office of Internal Audit saved the state $3.7 million by finding a coding error that the Department of Human Services had overlooked. But most Rhode Islanders probably never heard about that. Or how about the fact that 1,640 people were still on Rhode Island's Medicaid rolls a year or more after their deaths? That's just one of the eyebrow-raising items on the long list of problems that the Office of the Auditor General (yes, there are two separate offices dedicated to audits) highlighted in the most recent report summarizing its annual review of the state's finances. Political Scene explores what each of the auditor offices do, whom they report to, and whether either one is truly independent and immune from political pressures. Political Scene: RI's two state auditor offices routinely find waste and problems. But is anyone listening? PROVIDENCE − Aiden Craft set the table. Mason Crain faked a shot and unselfishly surrendered the moment. And Frank Tillinghast graduates as a hero and a four-time hockey champion. All three Hendricken skaters touched the puck in the game-winning sequence in triple overtime against Prout. Crain sliced the puck through the slot, to Tillinghast on the right wing, and the senior didn't hesitate. Tillinghast guided the forehand shot and Hendricken, to its fourth straight boys hockey State Championship at Providence College's Schneider Arena. The, 3-2, triple overtime triumph is Hendricken's 11th title overall. The Journal's Jacob Rousseau breaks down the thrilling overtime win. High school sports: In 3rd overtime, Hendricken wins RIIL Boys Hockey State Championship. Here's how PROVIDENCE – Cracked sidewalks are an ordinary part of city life, but one local artist sees them as an opportunity to start dialogues about environmental threats to the community. Providence-based artist Linda Ford is an avid cyclist and walker who spends a lot of time outside. A few years ago, as she was learning more about pollution and contamination issues in Rhode Island, she started noticing how cracked sidewalks looked a bit like waterways and how relevant that felt to living in the Ocean State. 'New England is surrounded by water of all different kinds,' Ford said. 'I started to fill them with blue cement and became interested in them as these miniature riverscapes.' A grant allowed her to expand the project into a citywide public art installation that beautifies an eyesore while raising awareness of environmental issues. Good news: 'They might be a surprise': Why a Providence artist is turning sidewalk cracks into art To read the full stories, go to Find out how to subscribe here. This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Utility bill anger; Social Security fears; March Madness in Providence
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'I can't afford it anymore.' Rhode Islanders slam utility and high costs of energy
WARWICK – A hearing Monday night was supposed to be about proposals that would see a net decrease in energy bills for most Rhode Islanders, but it sure didn't feel like it. Beforehand, protesters rallied outside the offices of state utilities regulators to complain about Rhode Island Energy's prices, and during the standing-room-only hearing, speaker after speaker aimed criticism at the state's largest gas and electric utility. Joyce Fiore was one of several customers who brought their bills up to the podium to read off the skyrocketing numbers. Her electric bill jumped from $164 in December to $580 in February, she said. 'I've lived in Cranston for close to 50 years now, and I've never seen bills like this,' she told the two members of the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission who were present at the hearing. While electric rates have been abnormally high in Rhode Island for a while now, the bill impact has been greater this winter because it's been colder than the mild winters of the past couple of years. That's not only pushed up energy usage but also put pressure on wholesale electric prices on the spot market. Natural gas rates have also increased in recent years, pushing up the cost of heating. The General Assembly session that opened in January has been marked by an unusual number of pieces of legislation that aim to rein in Rhode Island Energy's costs. For its part, Rhode Island Energy says it can do little about the energy rates that it passes on to ratepayers without a mark-up. They're largely determined by regional market forces, the company says. 'We understand the burden of high bills, and we know you feel it even more when temperatures drop, and supply prices continue to be high, as they have this winter,' Brian Schuster, director of external affairs at the company, said at the hearing. 'We feel it, too.' But the 180 people in attendance were unconvinced, booing and heckling Schuster throughout his presentation. The complaints come as Rhode Island Energy is planning to lower electric rates, as usual, for the spring and summer. For residential customers, starting April 1, the default energy rate would drop from 16.4 cents per kilowatt hour to 10.1 cents. After accounting for a small increase in delivery charges, the bill for a typical customer that uses 500 kilowatt hours a month would go down by 17%, from $161.85 to $141.73. But even though that's a steep reduction from the winter rate for what's known as last-resort service, it's still significantly higher than the rates of summers past. Electric rates in Rhode Island spiked nearly three years ago as the war in Ukraine drove up European demand for natural gas, the primary fuel for power generation in New England. Even though prices have eased, they've yet to come down to previous levels. There are also structural problems that inflate New England's wholesale electric prices. While the use of natural gas for power production has increased significantly in the region over the last two decades to become the dominant fuel source, pipeline capacity has failed to keep up. Opposition from environmental groups has stymied new pipeline projects, so as demand for the fossil fuel has increased, the pipelines that bring gas from Pennsylvania shale fields and beyond have become more and more constrained. A recent study from S&P Global, supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, found that wholesale natural gas prices in Boston during periods of peak demand in the winter were 166% higher than the national benchmark. The pipeline constraints also help explain why New Englanders pay more for natural gas for heating. Under a second proposal that Rhode Island Energy filed with the utilities commission, gas rates would go up slightly on April 1. For a typical customer that uses 845 therms a year, the bill would edge up by 4.4%, from $1,785.11 to $1,863.68. State lawmakers are proposing to bring relief to ratepayers in a number of ways. Rep. Megan Cotter, who was at the hearing, has proposed slashing the cap on Rhode Island Energy's return on investment. She's introduced a second measure to look into turning the private, investor-owned company into a public entity. Rep. Charlene Lima has introduced legislation that delays by a decade Rhode Island's obligation to offset all energy usage with renewables by 2033. Sen. Dawn Euer is sponsoring a bill that would prohibit Rhode Island Energy from recovering from ratepayers the costs, among others, of marketing, lobbying or investor relations. And Rep. Scott Slater has brought back his perennial bill to cap energy bills for the poorest Rhode Islanders. But speakers at the utilities commission hearing argued that there are deeper structural problems with the state's energy system. They contend that even though customers can sign on with third-party suppliers or, in certain communities, with municipal aggregation plans, Rhode Island Energy acts as a monopoly. And that the state utilities commission doesn't do enough to regulate the company. 'Give these people hope,' Aseem Rastogi, chair of Indivisible RI, said to the commission members. 'Give us all hope that you'll do the right thing for people over profits.' State Sen. Elaine Morgan, one of several lawmakers in attendance, said something similar. 'You were commissioned by the General Assembly to protect us, the ratepayers,' the Hopkinton Republican said. 'We're asking for your protection right now.' Kathleen Giroux, a former resident of Florida, said her heating bill for her 900-square-foot apartment in Smithfield went from $98 in November to $404 this month. 'I can't afford it anymore,' she said. 'I'm ready to pack it up and move back to Florida.' This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: More than 180 people come out to complain of high energy costs in RI
