Electric rates through the Newport Community Electricity program will drop 10% from last winter when new pricing takes effect in November, city officials announced Thursday.
The winter rates, which will remain fixed through customers’ May 2026 meter reads, will offer cost savings compared to RI Energy’s Last Resort Service while providing cleaner electricity with 5% additional renewable energy.
Current program participants do not need to take any action to receive the new pricing.
The program’s residential default rate will be 14.690 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared to RI Energy’s 14.770 cents per kilowatt-hour. Commercial rates will be 14.640 cents per kilowatt-hour versus RI Energy’s 14.676 cents, and industrial rates will be 13.045 cents compared to 13.135 cents.
The additional renewable energy comes entirely from local Rhode Island projects, including the Narragansett Bay Commission wind turbines at Fields Point in Providence, solar installations in West Greenwich, and wind turbines in Coventry.
Newport participants annually purchase more than 4,524 megawatt-hours of voluntary renewable energy, equivalent to displacing over 3.2 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.
The city-operated program is open to all Newport residents and businesses. Participants may enroll at NewportCommunityElectricity.com or by calling NextEra Energy Services Rhode Island at (877) 323-3049. Customers may leave the program at any time without fees or penalties.
Newport is part of a group of seven Rhode Island municipalities — including Barrington, Central Falls, Narragansett, Portsmouth, Providence, and South Kingstown — that launched the state’s first municipal aggregation programs. The communities work with Good Energy as their consultant and share a common electricity supplier and pricing.
The program cannot guarantee savings compared to RI Energy’s Last Resort Service for the duration of the pricing period because future Last Resort Service prices are unknown.
