Why is the Rhode Island electricity price called an estimate?

Because no fixed supply price exists to file. Industrial-class Last Resort Service bills the actual monthly market contract price, so the model folds the trailing twelve-month average of the filed monthlies — about 13 cents per kilowatt-hour of supply in the current window — and discloses that treatment wherever results appear. Filed months in the same window ranged from about 10 to 18 cents; a site holding a competitive supply contract can enter its contracted rate in the wizard instead.

Does Rhode Island charge a demand charge on EV charging?

Yes. Rate G-32 bills distribution demand above 200 kilowatts and transmission demand on all kilowatts, measured on the peak inside a seasonal weekday window; the model folds both with the gross earnings tax into $16.30 per kilowatt-month applied to every billed kilowatt. No EV-specific rate is currently in force — the previous DC fast-charging pilot closed in 2021 — though one is under litigation in the pending rate case.

How heavy is Rhode Island's property tax on charging equipment?

The heaviest in the library's research set at the default: Providence assesses tangible business property at $53.40 per $1,000, about $56,000 in year one on model-scale hardware. The town spread is the real story — East Greenwich $45.50, Warwick $37.46, Richmond $14.76 — a roughly 3.6× range inside one twenty-minute stretch of I-95. The model defaults to Providence and the field is editable per municipality.

ForgeAsset / Supercharger ROI / Rhode Island

Tesla Supercharger ROI in Rhode Island

Rhode Island is the library's first state modeled under the supply-pricing policy. Rhode Island Energy serves about 99% of the state, and any site at Supercharger scale lands mandatorily on Rate G-32, whose supply side has no filed fixed price: Last Resort Service for the industrial group bills actual monthly market prices, published three months at a time. The model prices that supply at the trailing twelve-month average of the filed monthlies — about 13 cents per kilowatt-hour in the current window, against filed months that ranged from about 10 to 18 cents — and states plainly, wherever results appear, that this figure is an average of a floating price rather than a filed rate. The delivery side is conventional and folds to about $16.30 per kilowatt-month all-in, one of the lighter demand figures in the Northeast.

Model a Rhode Island site

What makes Rhode Island economics distinct

A supply price the utility itself cannot quote in advance

Rate G-32 sits in the industrial Last Resort Service group, whose filed tariff sets “fixed monthly prices, representing the actual monthly contract prices” — published one quarter at a time. The filed monthlies moved 44% inside the current trailing year, and the 2022–2023 winter printed above 40 cents. The model carries the trailing twelve-month average, refreshed as quarterly filings land, and the wizard's energy-rate fields accept a contracted supply price in its place — the arrangement most operators at this scale negotiate with a competitive supplier.

A moderate demand line under a wide peak window

Delivery demand folds two components — about $8.08 per kilowatt of distribution on demand above 200 kilowatts and $7.57 of transmission on all kilowatts — measured on the greatest fifteen-minute peak inside a seasonal weekday window spanning thirteen to fifteen daytime hours. With the 4% gross earnings tax the modeled figure is $16.30 all-in, applied conservatively to every billed kilowatt; the trailing ratchet and power-factor clauses stay inert at charging-site load shapes.

The heaviest equipment tax in the research set — and a 3.6× town spread

Rhode Island municipalities tax tangible business property at locally set rates, and Providence's $53.40 per $1,000 is the heaviest rate among the modeled Supercharger towns — roughly $56,000 in year one on model-scale hardware. Twenty minutes down I-95, Richmond assesses $14.76. The model defaults to the Providence rate with the field editable per municipality; the first $50,000 of tangible property is exempt statewide and rates are capped at their FY2024 levels.

A rate case that could replace this page's premise

Rhode Island Energy's first base rate case under PPL ownership — Docket 25-45-GE, filed November 2025 with rates proposed effective September 2026 — litigates an EV-specific rate among its rate-design issues. The utility's previous DC fast-charging discount pilot closed to enrollment in 2021 and was not extended. A filed EV rate at the case's final order would replace the modeled schedule outright; until then, every delivery digit carries the currently effective book and re-derives at the order.

Utilities and tariffs modeled in Rhode Island

Utility & tariff	Energy	Demand
Rhode Island Energy G-32No fixed supply price is filed for this customer class — the utility bills supply at market prices that change monthly. The modeled energy figure folds the trailing twelve-month average of the filed monthly prices, an estimate rather than a filed rate; a site's actual supply cost follows the market or a competitive supply contract, and the wizard's energy-rate fields accept a contracted rate in place of the average. Rhode Island Energy places sites of this size on Rate G-32, whose Last Resort Service supply is filed as monthly market prices three months at a time; the modeled average spans October 2025 through September 2026, a window whose filed prices ranged from about 10 to 18 cents per kilowatt-hour. The utility's DC fast-charging discount pilot closed to enrollment in 2021, and the pending rate case litigates an EV-specific rate.	19.5¢/kWh flat	$16.30/kW of monthly peak

Rates are digit-verified against each utility's own filed sheets and update within two weeks of any revision. Full derivations are on the methodology page.

Rhode Island tax profile

Sales tax on hardware: 7%
Business personal property tax: 5.34% of equipment value (example rate)
Clean-fuels credit: no program
Per-kWh charging excise: none

Rhode Island tax defaults applied: no clean-fuels credit program reaches EV charging in Rhode Island (the LCFS revenue line is $0), and LLC costs use the flat $450 annual stack — the $400 Division of Taxation minimum plus the $50 annual report. Sales tax is 7% statewide on hardware with installation labor outside the base under the contractor rules. The tangible business property default is Providence's FY2026 rate of $53.40 per $1,000 — the heaviest municipal rate among the modeled Supercharger towns; East Greenwich is $45.50, Warwick $37.46, and Richmond $14.76 per $1,000, so the field is editable per municipality, and the first $50,000 of tangible property is exempt statewide. Electricity carries no Rhode Island sales tax for any customer class; the 4% gross earnings tax on the utility's revenue is already inside the modeled utility rates. No per-kWh charging tax exists in Rhode Island; the state charges battery-electric vehicles a $200 annual registration surcharge instead.

Rhode Island programs and incentives

NEVI (RIDOT/OER-administered)

Rhode Island was the first state to complete NEVI Phase 1, energizing its initial federal-corridor sites. A specific award on a future round enters the model through the grant inputs.

Electrify RI (VW settlement)

The $1.4 million round installed 23 DC fast-charging ports by 2023 and reads as exhausted; the federal clearinghouse currently lists no live utility infrastructure incentive for charging in Rhode Island. Rhode Island Energy's remaining EV offer is a small demand-response enrollment payment.

Rhode Island charging market

Rhode Island hosts four verified Supercharger sites threading the I-95 corridor: Providence at Kinsley Avenue, Warwick on Post Road, East Greenwich at Division Street, and Richmond at the South County midpoint — every one at eight stalls, and every one in Rhode Island Energy territory. The exceptions on the map are small: the Clear River district in western Burrillville and the Block Island grid appear as named territories with a notice rather than a wrong auto-selection. Providence accounts auto-enrolled in the city's aggregation program see a fixed industrial supply price in practice — a real channel the model notes but does not assume, since it is a term-limited broker contract confined to Providence parcels.

Rhode Island Supercharger ROI — questions

Why is the Rhode Island electricity price called an estimate?: Because no fixed supply price exists to file. Industrial-class Last Resort Service bills the actual monthly market contract price, so the model folds the trailing twelve-month average of the filed monthlies — about 13 cents per kilowatt-hour of supply in the current window — and discloses that treatment wherever results appear. Filed months in the same window ranged from about 10 to 18 cents; a site holding a competitive supply contract can enter its contracted rate in the wizard instead.
Does Rhode Island charge a demand charge on EV charging?: Yes. Rate G-32 bills distribution demand above 200 kilowatts and transmission demand on all kilowatts, measured on the peak inside a seasonal weekday window; the model folds both with the gross earnings tax into $16.30 per kilowatt-month applied to every billed kilowatt. No EV-specific rate is currently in force — the previous DC fast-charging pilot closed in 2021 — though one is under litigation in the pending rate case.
How heavy is Rhode Island's property tax on charging equipment?: The heaviest in the library's research set at the default: Providence assesses tangible business property at $53.40 per $1,000, about $56,000 in year one on model-scale hardware. The town spread is the real story — East Greenwich $45.50, Warwick $37.46, Richmond $14.76 — a roughly 3.6× range inside one twenty-minute stretch of I-95. The model defaults to Providence and the field is editable per municipality.

Sources

Model a Tesla V4 Supercharger site in Rhode Island — payback, NPV, IRR, and a 15-year cash flow from your own inputs.

Run a Rhode Island scenario

Other states: California, North Carolina, Georgia, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Florida, Arizona, Texas, Virginia, Illinois, Michigan, Tennessee, Montana, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Alabama, Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, Louisiana, Nevada, Washington, Ohio, Utah, New Hampshire, Kentucky, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Colorado, Maryland, Arkansas, Mississippi, West Virginia, Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, DC, Maine, Delaware, Vermont, New York. Coverage spans forty-nine states and the District of Columbia in total — see the full list.

ForgeAsset is software, not investment, tax, or legal advice — outputs are model estimates from your inputs, not guarantees. Rates and programs current as of research; verify current terms with each source before committing capital.