Although RI smart meter pilot program on Aquidneck Island, there are currently no plans to expand the meters in the state. Rhode Island’s Public Utilities Commissioner Paul J. Roberti doesn’t believe smart meters “come close” to justifying their costs and are an ill-advised, unrealistic attempt to modify consumer behavior. Roberti says, “You know what? The markets, the structure of pricing is not there,” he says. “These people (meter proponents) want to push all this stuff–I call them behavior-modification specialists––forcing things on consumers that don’t come naturally. You can’t get consumers to fully embrace this unless you give them economic pain, which I won’t do. If these things are going to happen, they should happen on their own. We shouldn’t go around and frontload all these costs. There’s just not enough of a natural market mechanism to do this. I don’t like when regulators are trying to force things.” http://www.smartmeters.com/the-news/4176-rhode-is