IBJNews

  • Home

Citizens Energy to take over city's water, sewer utilities

 IBJ Staff
March 10, 2010
Keywords
Citizens Energy Group, Government & Economic Development, Indianapolis Department of Waterworks, Sewer, Utility rates, Water
Back to TopCommentsE-mailPrint

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard has struck a preliminary deal with Citizens Energy Group to transfer the city’s water and sewer utilities to the public charitable trust.

The agreement is expected to generate more than $425 million in funding for local infrastructure improvements, and Citizens has agreed to assume $1.5 billion in debt associated with the utilities.

Officials announced the plan at a news conference Wednesday morning, culminating seven months of deliberation.

In July, Ballard issued requests for information from companies interested in operating the city’s water and sewer systems. The city’s water utility now is operated under a long-term contract with Veolia Water, the sewage plants by United Water.

United Water and Veolia were among the 23 firms filing proposals with the city in recent months. Also among them was Citizens, which provides gas, steam and chilled water service to the city.

Citizens said that as a public charitable trust it can secure tax-exempt financing at favorable rates.

“The transfer proposed today heeds the lessons of history by keeping our community’s water and wastewater systems in the hands of the people,” Citizens CEO Carey Lykins said in a prepared statement.

The utility estimates that by 2025, combined water and wastewater rates will be 25 percent lower than they would have been under city ownership—thanks to an estimated $40 million in expected annual savings tied to the consolidation.

This story has been updated.


ADVERTISEMENT

Post a comment to this story

COMMENTS POLICY
We reserve the right to remove any post that we feel is obscene, profane, vulgar, racist, sexually explicit, abusive, or hateful.
 
You are legally responsible for what you post and your anonymity is not guaranteed.
 
Posts that insult, defame, threaten, harass or abuse other readers or people mentioned in IBJ editorial content are also subject to removal. Please respect the privacy of individuals and refrain from posting personal information.
 
No solicitations, spamming or advertisements are allowed. Readers may post links to other informational websites that are relevant to the topic at hand, but please do not link to objectionable material.
 
We may remove messages that are unrelated to the topic, encourage illegal activity, use all capital letters or are unreadable.
 

Messages that are flagged by readers as objectionable will be reviewed and may or may not be removed. Please do not flag a post simply because you disagree with it.

ADVANCED SEARCH
Sponsored by
ADVERTISEMENT

facebook - twitter on Facebook & Twitter

Follow on TwitterFollow IBJ on Facebook:
Follow on TwitterFollow IBJ's Tweets on these topics:
 
Subscribe to IBJ

  1. Members must realize if you stop paying your dues you will lose. Why else would your employer honor the rtw bill. Before you take this step think about what you may be giving up in the long run. Very little of your dues money goes to any dem candidate. YOu will never know how much your republican employer gives his party with money he could be paying the employee. Who will step up and demand better wages or benefits if you have no representation. Union is the way for a better life. Our carpenter union offers a 4 year apprenticeship and 2 year degree from Ivy Tech all paid for with union dues . This is a great opportunity for kids who cant afford schooling after high school. The same opportunity is there for any person,any age, either sex to provide a better living for their family. Pension, anuity, health insurance all for your dues. How is this a bad choice.

  2. The FDIC is funded by assessments paid by banks, not taxpayers. That is not to say that bank customers don't ultimately pay the cost because, in the end, banks don't survive if they don't make profits.

  3. SCB Bank's failure is expected to cost the government $33.9 million,dont you mean middle class another bailout our government has no money

  4. Diogenes, the company did not call "pro-life" statements inflammatory. The IBJ article used the words "pro life."

    All, the company did, is what it should do which is apologize profusely for offending people with a program that offered statements that support an infamous apartheid proponent, Dr. Verwoerd, suggest that sometimes rape is justified, and quote Biblical text to people, not looking for it.

    If this is what you think is "insanity" then more companies need to behave insanely.

  5. I totally disagree with $45mil being given to the state Attorney General's office. That money is a waste. All of the money should go to help the homeowners & the people who were foreclosed on. Why such a big percentage to state govt? They'll get to start another agency staffed with people who have new-found power & don't care about the people they serve. As soon as the program was announced, I knew the states would end up with a huge chunk of the money for themselves that would just be squandered. Or maybe Mitch Daniels will just happen to "find" another big chunk of money that was "posted in the wrong section of the state's books."

ADVERTISEMENT