How to Switch Electricity Providers in Rhode Island Today

1. Find what you pay now. Your bill shows the price you pay for Last Resort Service. Write down that price and the date it will next change. It is the default supply rate on your Rhode Island Energy bill.
2. Check that you can choose. Look at your bill. If your power comes from a city utility or a cooperative, it may sit outside the choice program, so confirm before you shop.
3. Compare on the official site. Start with Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission, which is run for consumers. Look at the price type, the term and the fees, not only the headline rate.
4. Get the terms in writing. Ask for the price per kWh, whether it is fixed or variable, the term, every monthly fee, the early termination fee and what the price becomes at renewal.
5. Sign up with the supplier. You enroll with the supplier, not with your utility. Keep the contract and any confirmation, and note how long you have to cancel.
6. Watch for the start date and your first bills. Your utility handles the change. Expect a notice, and check that the supplier name, the price and the start date match what you were told.
7. Mark the end of the term. Put the renewal date in your calendar. Many plans change price at the end of the term unless you choose again.

These points come from the regulator or its official shopping site, or from the supplier disclosure language that its rules require. Each names where it was read.

• Suppliers are called nonregulated power producers and register with the Division of Public Utilities and Carriers. Their rates are not set by the commission. Source: Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission.
• State regulations cap an early termination fee for a residential customer at the lesser of $50 or twice the estimated average monthly bill. A customer on a month to month variable rate with no contract owes no fee to leave. Source: Rhode Island Code of Regulations, 815-RICR-30-05-2.6.

Source: Read on October 10, 2026. Rules and supplier lists change, so use the regulator link below for the current text.

We could not confirm these points from an official page, so we do not state a number for them. Ask the supplier, read the contract and check with the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission.

• How many days you have to cancel after signing
• Whether your contract has an early termination fee, and its amount
• How long the switch takes to show on your bill
• The date of your next default price change, so you compare offers against the right number

The average Rhode Island home used 562 kWh a month in 2025, or about 6,742 kWh a year. At that use, every 1 cent per kWh of difference between an offer and the default supply rate on your Rhode Island Energy bill changes the yearly bill by about $67. A gap of 2 cents is about $135 a year, and 0.5 cents is about $34.

Those numbers shrink or grow with your own use. A monthly fee of $5 adds $60 a year, which can erase a small price gap. Run your own numbers with the electricity bill calculator, and compare fixed and variable plans with the fixed vs variable rate calculator.

Switching does not change the company that owns the lines and the meter. In Rhode Island, the largest investor-owned utilities by residential customers in 2025 were:

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861 (final 2025 data), residential customers. Call your utility for outages whichever supplier you use.

Keep your contract, your confirmation and any call notes. If you think you were switched without permission, tell your utility and your regulator right away. The Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission takes complaints about suppliers.

Be wary of anyone who says they are from your utility and says you must switch, who asks for your account number before you have seen a contract, or who will not give you the price and fees in writing.