Indianapolis-based utility AES Indiana has agreed to reduce the amount it will charge customers for costs related to the breakdown of its newest power plant from $71 million to $13.7 million under a settlement agreement approved Wednesday by state regulators.
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The utility is asking for permission to pass on the cost of power it had to purchase from the grid during the outage, but customers are objecting.
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The huge investment by a foreign government is unprecedented for Indiana utilities, which typically raise capital through more traditional routes, such as selling debt through investment banks.
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The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission ruled Monday that Duke Energy, the state’s largest electricity provider, could collect an additional $146 million a year from customers. That’s down sharply from Duke Energy’s original request.
Read MoreMerrillville, Indiana-based Northern Indiana Public Service Co. asked the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission this week to approve the rate increase over two years for its 470,000 customers across 32 northern Indiana counties.
David Veleta succeeds David Ober, who resigned as commissioner in June after being named vice president of taxation and public finance for the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.
The Indiana Chamber of Commerce said David Ober will start his new position as vice president of taxation and public finance in late June.
Citizens Energy Group announced Wednesday that it wants to acquire a small, little-known political subdivision in Marion County that was months away from starting construction of its own wastewater treatment plant to avoid Citizens’ rate hikes.
Duke Energy won’t be allowed to make its customers pay the more than $210 million needed to recoup coal-ash cleanup costs after the utility failed to follow the proper steps to recover those expenses, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled.
State regulators have approved a settlement with Indiana Michigan Power under which the utility will cut its Indiana residential customers’ base electric rates nearly 6% by next year.
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission cited the utility for instances of failing to locate or mark underground pipelines within two days of a request being made, as is required in advance of any excavation work.
Monday’s ruling followed a huge uproar from ratepayers and elected officials, who widely criticized utilities for their request to charge customers for electricity they didn’t use when demand slowed down during health crisis lockdowns.
More than 2,300 people have complained by email to the Indiana Utility Consumer Counselor, which is on track to become the largest number of complaints for any single case in at least a decade.
Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness isn’t the first person to bash the utilities and the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission over the matter. Thousands of consumers have written letters and emails protesting the request.
Two weeks after 10 Indiana utilities asked state regulators for permission to charge ratepayers for millions of dollars in revenue the utilities stand to lose because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state has agreed to consider the matter.
IPL said a typical household customer would likely pay an extra $1.50 a month in the first year. That monthly amount would increase by $1.50 each year, or by a total of $10.50 a month by the seventh year.
It’s an unusual rebuke from the Utility Consumer Counselor Bill Fine, who often recommends that state regulators cut a utility’s proposed rate increase, but rarely says the entire hike should be denied.
The ruling is a setback for consumer activists and customer groups, who say Duke Energy’s application to raise electricity rates by an average of 15% is incomplete and confusing.
Key parties in the case have asked state regulators to order Duke to refile all its work papers and exhibits, with formulas and linked spreadsheets.
The utility says it wants to keep most of its coal-fired plants in Indiana running through much of the next decade, while gradually investing in wind, solar and other renewable energy sources.
The utility had wanted to build the gas-fired plant to replace aging coal-burning units, but regulators said the plan was too risky and inflexible.
The utility is seeking a nearly 17 percent rate increase to help pay for more than $542 million of infrastructure investments.
Indiana Utility Consumer Counselor Bill Fine is tasked with making sure Hoosier households and business aren’t overcharged for electricity, natural gas, water or wastewater.
Indianapolis Power & Light has agreed not to raise the fixed monthly rate it charges most of its residential customers, under a rate-case settlement it reached with the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor and other stakeholders.
