Rhode Island DSA Backs a Public Grid Takeover. Where Is the Financing Plan?

Reported fact

The program on the ballot

In an article with October 27 in its URL, DSA's Democratic Left promoted Brittany Kubicek's Rhode Island House District 5 campaign. It describes her as a Rhode Island DSA member with national DSA endorsement. The Secretary of State's October 28 candidate list identifies her as an Independent–Socialist on the Rep 05 ballot alongside Democrat Anthony DeSimone, whom the DSA article calls the incumbent. DSA identifies November 3 as election day.

The DSA article calls the campaign's program Rhode Island DSA's socialist program and says it includes a public takeover of the energy grid, a statewide rent freeze, a $30 minimum wage and single-payer health care. The chapter's undated program independently demands publicly owned and democratically controlled utilities. The October 27 article promoted an existing platform; these measures were not enacted that day.

Sources: Democratic Left, Democratic Socialists of America · Rhode Island Democratic Socialists of America · Rhode Island Secretary of State

Reported fact

The missing purchase and rate plan

The candidate homepage promises a public takeover of Rhode Island Energy, while the issues page says the state must take over the energy grid to lower prices and remove the profit motive. It also calls for citizen oversight and publicly owned clean energy. Neither page defines whether it means the whole utility or selected assets, the legal route, purchase price, financing, or a customer-bill model. Both pages are undated.

PPL reported to the SEC that its May 2022 purchase of Narragansett Electric involved approximately $3.8 billion in cash and $1.5 billion in assumed debt, or $5.3 billion in enterprise consideration. That company included gas and electric assets. This historical private deal is not a 2026 valuation of the candidate's unspecified grid proposal, and it cannot be treated as a taxpayer cost estimate.

Sources: Brittany for Rhode Island campaign · Brittany for Rhode Island campaign · U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Analysis

Affordability is real; the outcome is unproven

In August 2026, the Rhode Island Attorney General's office said its advocacy helped secure $170 million in customer bill credits in the utility's rate case. The PUC rejected a multi-year rate proposal, allowed one-year rate changes and held the allowed return on equity at 9.275% instead of 10.75%; tariffs became effective September 1. Those actions show existing regulation can change terms for customers without a public purchase. They do not prove that regulation alone is sufficient or what public ownership would cost or save.

Public ownership could redirect private shareholder returns toward public priorities and oversight, but it would require financing, governance, maintenance and capital investment. The posted campaign platform provides no comparison showing whether total bills would rise or fall. Who ultimately pays—taxpayers, energy customers or both, directly or through debt repayment—remains unspecified. The sources reviewed identify no approved purchase or spending on this proposal.

Sources: Rhode Island Attorney General · Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission · Brittany for Rhode Island campaign

Analysis

Other pledges require different tests

The campaign says statewide single-payer care would be funded by progressive taxes and calls for new public housing, but its issues page gives no tax rates for health care or budget for either program. A rent freeze, $30 inflation-linked minimum wage and 32-hour week would largely operate as rules for landlords and employers. Their likely effects require economic analysis, not a fictional taxpayer-spending total.

A single House candidate could advocate for these statewide changes but could not enact them alone. Voters can reasonably ask the campaign and chapter for a specific legislative path, acquisition scope, valuation, payer, fiscal period and independent bill comparison before accepting a promise of cheaper energy.

Sources: Brittany for Rhode Island campaign · Rhode Island Democratic Socialists of America

Open question

Questions still open

Which public entity would acquire which assets, and under what legal authority? What would the transaction and transition cost, in which fiscal years, and who would repay any debt? What independent model compares customer bills under public ownership with the regulated status quo? What are the tax rates and budgets for the campaign's health-care and housing commitments?

Sources: Brittany for Rhode Island campaign · Rhode Island Democratic Socialists of America · Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission