Vectren is seeking permission from Indiana regulators to pass on the cost of cleaning up the coal ash pond at its A.B. Brown power plant to customers.
The utility included the request in a petition filed with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, seeking approval of plans to excavate and recycle coal ash from the pond near the Ohio River in Evansville.
Although the petition doesn’t say how much the utility will seek from customers, Vectren spokeswoman Natalie Hedde said the project will cost $164 million.
The utility said it wants to recover 80 percent of the project’s cost by adding it to customer bills separately from Vectren’s base rate and spread out over 14 years. That matches the span of Vectren’s agreement with the unnamed company that will purchase the recovered coal ash. Hedde says recovery of the remaining cost will be deferred.
Vectren, which is now part of Houston, Texas-based CenterPoint Energy, serves customers in Indiana and Ohio.
Vectren supplies gas or electric to more than a million customers in Indiana. Its service territory covers nearly two-thirds of Indiana and about 20 percent of Ohio. Every county surrounding Marion County receives gas service from Vectren.
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Send the bill to Trump. He ‘digs coal’.
I thought we were already paying for these utilities to properly handle the coal ash? They knew all along this stuff is toxic waste and it poisonous. There is no secret it contains mercury and arsenic.
As a former power company employee, part of power plant training and safety is DON’T breath the coal ash dust and wash thoroughly before eating or drinking.
Seems reasonable for customers to share the cost with stockholders. .
The ratepayers benefitted for many years with cheaper rates because they were not paying the “full cost” of burning coal to provide electricity. And the stockholders also gained because profits did not take into account the full cost either.