Rhode Island Energy — the state’s dominant energy supplier — overcharged the state by $2 million over a three month period last year, according to a recent audit by the state.
The audit, published by the Office of Internal Audit and Program Integrity, found that Rhode Island paid around $6.1 million dollars for electricity and gas usage between August and October last year.
According to the audit, the overcharge was a result of RIE failing to apply $2 million worth of net metering credits — which are provided in exchange for excess renewable energy — to the bill.
RIE, which manages electricity distribution for 99% of the state, said that no bills were miscalculated and that the state was not overcharged. Rather, the time between bills being sent and the application of renewable energy credits — which can help decrease the price of a client’s energy bill — led to the discrepancy noted in the audit, RIE spokesperson Michael Dalo wrote in an email to The Herald.
These timing issues were mostly due to RIE’s transition from old servers, Dalo wrote. “We have addressed these issues, implemented corrective actions and continue to strengthen our billing systems and processes.”
In an email to The Herald, Greco wrote that RIE “made efforts to correct some of the identified issues during the audit,” but that in light of this review, “there are still opportunities for further improvement in processes and controls.”
The OIAPI began an audit in February when several state agencies raised questions about increased energy costs, said Karen Greco, director of public affairs for the R.I. Department of Administration. The final results were published in a public report on Sept. 5.
The audit found numerous issues with government-run accounts. Twenty-six accounts were missing a monthly statement, 50 had not been billed since last July and several were mislabelled or had an incorrect address, among other problems.
Reviewing and correcting the mislabelled bills took a “significant amount of staff time,” Robert Beadle, the chief public affairs officer at the R.I. Office of Energy Resources, wrote in an email to The Herald.
Larry Berman, the R.I. House of Representatives communications director, expects the R.I. legislature to address both the cost to the state and the potential consumer concerns, citing high energy costs last winter.
On Sept. 4, the Public Utilities Commission approved Guidehouse Inc., an independent consulting firm, to conduct a more wide-ranging audit of RIE’s billing system. Their report is due by Nov. 15.
