Press Release: June 24, 2010
Contact:  Jack Colby (401)884-0788, Maggi Rogers (401)419-0389

Speaker of the House Gordon Fox continues to ignore the needs of everyday Rhode Islanders, even though he once claimed to champion their cause.    We are keeping the pressure on for him to meet with people who are desperate for solutions to high energy costs.  The general assembly leadership left a bill languishing in committee that would have set affordable rates, even as they pushed through legislation favorable to utility companies that will price even more people out of the grid.  Before he rose to the pinnacle of power in Rhode Island politics, Gordon Fox professed his support for affordable energy legislation (see: “Our program for relieving heating woes” Providence Journal Commentary December 18, 2005)

Every day, the phones ring off the hook at the Wiley Center in Pawtucket, with calls coming from low-income, elderly, and disabled people from across the state who are victims of, or at risk of, utility shutoffs.  The cries of struggling families have gone unheeded, even as the greed of foreign-owned utility corporations has taken precedence with the leadership.  Equally important, utility ratepayers’ rights under the rules and regulations of the Division of Public Utilities are being violated.  Customers are treated with disrespect and spoken to with disdain.  Many are discouraged from asking for hearings that could assist them in keeping their utilities on.

The Wiley Center plans to continue dogging Speaker Fox until he agrees to meet with our members and hear their stories.  He needs to recommit himself to the priority that he championed publicly five years ago, particularly because things have only gotten worse since then.