Bill FAQs
You asked. We're answering.
Our Bill FAQs are a one-stop resource that answers your questions anytime you have them, day or night. We're answering your most common questions about bills, rates, and terms, plus tips on avoiding scams and staying secure.
Your Frequently Asked Questions
Your Rhode Island Energy account number is confidential and should never be shared with strangers—even if they say they’re Rhode Island Energy employees.
Unethical companies have been known to scam customers into giving up their Rhode Island Energy account information. Scammers can use your account information to enroll you into services you don’t want—and don't want to pay for. Real Rhode Island Energy employees will always wear Rhode Island Energy badges and carry photo IDs when making in-person visits, and Rhode Island Energy representatives will always know your account number—you never have to provide it.
Rhode Island Energy does not make promotional calls. For more information, including on how to protect yourself from scams, please visit our Scam Alert information center.
Unfortunately this is a common scam. You should never share your Rhode Island Energy bill with strangers, and if someone comes to your house claiming to be from Rhode Island Energy , check for their ID—real Rhode Island Energy employees will have a Rhode Island Energy badge.
If this happens to you, please contact us right away.
Spoof calls are a sadly common method of scamming in the utilities world. A spoof call will appear to be coming from a reputable number, like a Rhode Island Energy's number, but are really from a third party—typically a scammer or unethical company.
Remember that Rhode Island Energy representatives will already have your account number—you will never need to provide it.
There are a number of reasons your bill may spike, especially during the holidays.
Environmental factors. When the nights are longer and colder, we tend to spend more time indoors, leading to lights being turned on earlier than usual and for longer periods of time.
Household size. When relatives or friends visit, they often bring an unexpected guest: higher energy usage. An increased household size leads to an increase in lighting and heating up rooms, extra cooking, extra showering, and so on—all things that increase energy usage.
Appliances/Gifts. If you’ve recently bought new appliances or started using new electronics after the holidays, you might be using more energy than normal just by charging up or powering it.
Decorations. We all love holiday lighting, especially around Halloween, Christmas, and the New Year—but it does use energy (sometimes more than we think).
To stay ahead of bill variations and eliminate any surprises in your monthly bill, take a look at our Managing Bill Variations page.
Our Budget Billing program eliminates the highs and lows from your bill and puts control back in your hands.
To calculate your budget bill, we add up your property’s last 12 months of usage. We divide the total by 12 to create one even monthly payment. No fuss involved, no surprises in store—just a steady payment that makes your bill predictable.
If we get to the end of your plan and it turns out our estimates were off, don’t worry—we’ll credit or debit the difference. We try to make sure that doesn’t happen, though, by recalculating your average every few months.
Remember to avoid late or missed payments—these can cause your average to go up when your plan is recalculated.