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Westfield officials hope to have a voice in a case that will determine if Plainfield-based Duke Energy Indiana can raise rates by 16%.
Westfield announced Thursday that it has asked the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) if it can become a party to the case, which would allow the city to submit evidence and testimony and cross-examine Duke Energy about its rate increase request, according to Westfield Communications Director Kayla Arnold.
If permitted, Westfield would join 11 other intervenors in the Duke Energy case. The Hamilton County city is the first Indiana municipality to look to get involved in the case. The IURC will determine if Westfield can be an intervenor.
Other intervenors are Blocke LLC, Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, Duke Industrial Group, Nucor Steel, River Heritage Property Owners’ Association Inc., Rolls-Royce Corp., Sierra Club (Hoosier Chapter), Steel Dynamics Inc., The Kroger Co., Wabash Valley Power Association Inc. and Walmart Inc.
Duke Energy, the state’s largest electric utility, is asking state regulators for permission to raise rates about 16% over two years. The company filed a rate request in April with the IURC in a move that would raise an extra $492 million a year.
“It’s important for us to be involved because it not only it affects our residents who are taxpayers and ratepayers to Duke, but it also impacts our business community as well,” Westfield Director of Communications Kayla Arnold said.
Westfield officials have expressed concerns about the magnitude and timing of the proposed rate increase, particularly following Duke Energy’s most recent rate hike in 2020. Mayor Scott Willis addressed joining the Duke Energy case at Monday’s Westfield City Council meeting.
“It’s the right fight,” Willis said. “It’s the right fight for our residents.”
Energy attorneys with Indianapolis-based law firm Bose McKinney & Evans LLC are representing the city.
Technical staff and attorneys for the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor (OUCC) are reviewing Duke Energy’s request.
Angeline Protogere, a spokesperson for Duke Energy, noted that rate requests are legal proceedings, “and it’s not uncommon to have a variety of viewpoints.
“We respect that and have met with Mayor Willis. About half of the rate request is for electric grid improvements, including keeping pace with growth statewide. In Hamilton County alone, we’ve invested more than $25 million annually in recent years in new power lines, substations and other infrastructure to serve a rapidly growing county, and we expect that growth to continue.”
The utility has referred to new costs of providing energy as reasons for the proposed increase.
“The way utilities produce and deliver power is changing,” the company said when it originally announced the rate request. “There’s advanced technology that reduces power outages, environmental obligations driving cleaner operations, a need for better security protecting the electric grid and enhanced services that customers today expect.
“Those are some of the reasons for a rate increase Duke Energy requested on April 4, 2024, before the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. Since our last base rate increase in 2020, we have invested $1.6 billion in our electric grid, power plants and overall system on behalf of our customers, including technology that has helped prevent more than 185,000 power outages since 2020.”
“We know that utility costs can be a major part of a household and business’s budget and that customers expect us to do our part to keep bills as low as possible,” said Stan Pinegar, president of the Indiana operations, in April. “We have kept our day-to-day operating costs flat since 2020 while we make long-term investments to serve customers.”
He added: “Fortunately, fuel costs for our electricity production have declined, and residential customer bills are about 25% lower than they were in late 2022.”
Duke Energy says it is “hardening” its system against severe weather to reduce power outages, including changing wood poles to steel, undergrounding power lines in targeted, outage-prone areas, and rebuilding miles of overhead lines.
And in the wake of physical attacks to the electric grid nationally, Duke Energy said it is taking steps to improve physical security and protection at some of its key infrastructure delivering power to Indiana communities.
Public comment on the proposed rate increase will be accepted through July 5, and formal testimony from the OUCC—the state agency that represents consumer interests in Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission cases—is due July 11.
If approved, the rate increase would be added to bills in two steps: approximately 12% in 2025 and about 4% in 2026.
The increase will vary among consumers depending on the cost to serve different types of customers, such as residential and business, the company said. It estimated the total monthly impact of the two steps for a residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month would be about 19%, or $27.63.
A final order in the case will likely be issued in early 2025, according to Luke Wilson, executive director of external affairs for the IURC.
The move comes about four years after Duke Energy had its last base rate increase of $146 million a year, or about 60% less than it originally sought.
The utility’s parent, Charlotte, North Carolina-based Duke Energy Corp., reported a profit of $2.87 billion last year, up 17% from a year earlier.
Duke Energy Indiana serves about 900,000 customers in 69 of Indiana’s 92 counties. The company said it expects to have more than 60,000 new residential and business customers by 2025 and is adding 345 miles of new power lines and infrastructure to serve them.
IBJ reporter John Russell contributed to this report.
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Do everything you can to conserve your energy use. It will result in rate increases to restore the revenue level demanded by corporate greed for ever increasing profit margins .
Research “net metering”. It was lobbied against and voted down years ago. It’s another benefit for the energy companies and corporate greed. Our state does not care about the environment or conserving energy.
It should also intervene in school system building new tennis courts, buying old library, new this, replacement that …
I think it’s good Westfield is seeking to represent its citizens. Living in Brownsburg, I’m not so confident that our Town Council members would make that kind of effort.