---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CARRIERS (Amends electric distribution companies authority to charge interconnecting renewable energy customers for certain modifications and places timetables on interconnection work.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CARRIERS (Amends electric distribution companies authority to charge interconnecting renewable energy customers for certain modifications and places timetables on interconnection work.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 637"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 637 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Environment", "Public Utilities", "Electricity"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["DiPalma", "Kettle", "Miller", "Satchell", "Seveney"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-03-29"
last_action: "2017-06-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1571d74c-1afe-426e-9dc5-ac28a73cb814"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "1cfeb97ba7be4a0b7fe89fd07f6e43fa2d19208e4a1ccc16c9eb3f3fe8abbe0a"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ri"]
---

# Rhode Island SB 637 (2017) — AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CARRIERS (Amends electric distribution companies authority to charge interconnecting renewable energy customers for certain modifications and places timetables on interconnection work.)

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **637 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText17/SenateText17/S0637A.pdf)

## Votes

- IN CONCURRENCE — **70–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passage — **36–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- DiPalma — primary (person)
- Kettle — primary (person)
- Miller — primary (person)
- Satchell — primary (person)
- Seveney — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-03-29** 03/29/2017 Introduced, referred to Senate Environment and Agriculture `referral-committee, introduction`
- **2017-04-21** 04/21/2017 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (04/26/2017)
- **2017-04-26** 04/26/2017 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2017-06-02** 06/02/2017 Scheduled for consideration (06/07/2017)
- **2017-06-07** 06/07/2017 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-06-08** 06/08/2017 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/14/2017)
- **2017-06-14** 06/14/2017 Senate passed Sub A `passage`
- **2017-06-15** 06/15/2017 Referred to House Corporations `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-16** 06/16/2017 Scheduled for consideration (06/20/2017)
- **2017-06-20** 06/20/2017 Committee recommends passage of Sub A in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-06-24** 06/24/2017 Placed on the House Consent Calendar (06/27/2017)
- **2017-06-27** 06/27/2017 House passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2017-06-28** 06/28/2017 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2017-06-30** 06/30/2017 Signed by Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/1571d74c-1afe-426e-9dc5-ac28a73cb814`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).