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Business owner says Newport’s community choice program is costing taxpayers, offers AI‑shopping tool
Summary
A local entrepreneur told the council that Newport’s Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) is delivering higher rates and limited choice and proposed an AI shopping service (Kilowatt AI) as a public opt‑out resource; the chair directed staff to let the manager’s office review the materials rather than allowing a sales pitch at the meeting.
Rocco Grama (speaker 12) addressed the council about Newport’s Community Choice Aggregation program and said it was not delivering savings to participating taxpayers. He told the council that the program enrolled ratepayers automatically, offered one supplier and one short term, and—based on his comparison chart—was pricing roughly 22% above Rhode Island Energy’s last‑resort service for the next six months. “Now, here we are in June 2026…taxpayers are giving away their small percentage of savings…and are now paying a 22% premium,” Grama said, citing a handout he distributed to councilors.
Grama proposed Kilowatt AI (described in his remarks as mybusinesskillwatt.com) as a consumer‑facing agent that autonomously shops thousands of price plans daily and produces a custom savings analysis. He characterized the tool as a free publicly available opt‑out resource and asked the city to consider it as a supplement to the CCA. The chair interrupted to keep the presentation from turning into a business solicitation and directed the manager’s office to accept the materials for review. “What we’ll do is turn this to the manager’s office, and they can take a look at it,” the chair said.
Council did not make a policy decision about the CCA during the meeting; the administration accepted Grama’s materials for further review. The comments highlight constituent concerns about program design, supplier selection and price transparency; staff follow‑up would be required to validate Grama’s pricing comparison and consider any administrative remedy.
