Block Island Power Company

The Block Island Utility District dba Block Island Power Company proudly serves Block Islanders with safe and reliable energy.

The member owned and governed Utility District is Block Island’s clean source for island energy. 

Originally named the Island Light and Power Company, the Island’s electric utility has undergone many ownership changes since it became the Island’s electric supplier. The original company was incorporated by a special act of the Rhode Island General Assembly in January, 1925.

In November 2016, the Town of New Shoreham purchased the majority shares of the company and sponsored the effort to creat a non-profit electric utility district. In June 2018, the RI General Assembly passed the Block Island Utility District Act. The Utility District, led by the original Board of Commissioners successfully negotiated the acquisition of the assets of the Block Island Power Company and began operations as the Block Island Utility District dba Block Island Power Company on March 25, 2019.

Our core mission today is to of course serve our customers with safe, reliable and affordable electricity. Equally important however is to be a member governed, transparent and member/consumer focused electric utility that is enthusiastically leading the transformation of the Island’s energy future.

For 92 years, the Island’s electric supply was a fleet of diesel generators that burned as much as 1,000,000 gallons of diesel fuel. On May 1, 2017 the company connected to the mainland power grid through National Grid’s Sea2Shore submarine cable. This monumental transition has stabilized supply prices, reduced carbon emissions and noise pollution and has provided us with access to clean power supply available in the New England wholesale power supply markets.

Block Island is the home to the Block Island Wind Farm, the nation’s first off-shore wind farm which is owned and operated by Orsted. The 30MW wind farm has proven to be a cost effective means of generating electricity.