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Council questions why school energy bills weren’t detected earlier after months of unread meters
Summary
Councilors pressed school and city finance staff about an energy‑billing shortfall of roughly $174,000 attributed to several months of unread utility meters; the city finance director and school finance staff described direct‑pay billing and meter‑reading gaps as the cause and said they will double‑check records.
Several councilors raised detailed questions about a roughly $174,000 electricity shortfall that contributed to the district’s fiscal problems.
A councilor asked Nolan and the school finance staff why the school department and council were not notified earlier. City Director of Finance Jim Nolan said the bills are processed as direct‑pay invoices and that Rhode Island Energy had been unable to obtain meter readings for multiple months, producing a cumulative bill when readings resumed. “All electricity bills are paid through the city of Newport,” Nolan said when asked who pays the bills. He told the council his office pulls bills from a portal, posts them to the general ledger and that the school department must review that ledger monthly.
School finance staff said the office believed three months of readings were missed and that the backlog posted in February; councilors asked staff to confirm the exact number of missed readings and why the school committee and city were not informed sooner. The finance director agreed to double‑check the records. Councilors noted the operational risk created when utility invoices are delayed and stressed the need for better cross‑office monitoring so similar oversights do not recur.
