Citizens’ CEO grilled on pay in rate-increase hearing
State utility regulators kicked off a week-long hearing Monday on a proposed water rate increase for Indianapolis residents by putting the CEO of Citizens Energy Group on the hot seat.
State utility regulators kicked off a week-long hearing Monday on a proposed water rate increase for Indianapolis residents by putting the CEO of Citizens Energy Group on the hot seat.
About 2,000 Bargersville Water Utility customers pay a $10-per-month fee for having an in-ground sprinkler system, generating $240,000 annually for the town, which enacted the fee in 1995.
The state’s utility consumer agency recommended Thursday that regulators significantly reduce Citizens Water's proposed rate hike for its 300,000 customers in Marion and surrounding counties.
The state's corporate-friendly environmental policies aside, Indianapolis Power and Light Co.’s parent chose the city as its new center for U.S. operations largely because of the utility's billion-dollar upgrades.
Duke Energy said that its $3.5 billion, high-tech 618-megawatt plant near Vincennes will produce 10 times as much power as a former plant but emit about 70 percent less pollution.
A vast majority of the 185 downtown-based steam-service customers of Citizens Energy Group would pay at least 12.9 percent to 23 percent more under a rate-increase proposal.
The Deep Rock Tunnel is the largest public-works project in the city’s history, and Citizens customers are already paying for the first phase, which cost $444 million.
About 200 downtown business and industrial customers would pay an average of 12.9 percent more for steam services under a rate-increase proposal by Citizens Energy Group.
As citizens of Zionsville, residents of the Royal Run subdivision have had little recourse against the Whitestown-owned water utility that charges them 78 percent more than its customers to the north.
An Indiana lawmaker who opposes a 30-year contract with the developers of a proposed $2.8 billion coal-gasification plant told a House committee Wednesday that the surge in U.S. shale gas production has driven down natural gas prices, leaving synthetic gas projects unfeasible.
James Atterholt was first named utility chief in 2010 to replace David Lott Hardy, who was fired by Gov. Mitch Daniels amid an ethics probe involving Duke Energy Corp.
Indiana manufacturers and consumer groups opposed to a bill that would make it easier for power companies to raise their rates won concessions Wednesday from House lawmakers.
A Senate committee is leaving a contentious battle over a proposed $3 billion coal-gasification plant in the Indiana Supreme Court’s hands for now.
Mooresville’s bid to purchase water operations likely will be decided in court.
Options include increasing exports as opposition to coal-fired electricity generation heats up at both national and local levels.
An 11-page utility bill in the Indiana Senate that a consumer group likens to “a money grab” would hasten and expand a utility’s ability to recover additional costs from customers.
Under the legislation, state utility regulators could order Indiana Gasification LLC to make refunds to gas customers every three years if the price of synthetic gas it produces from coal is greater than the market price of natural gas over the period.
A synthetic natural gas plant proposed downstate need only tweak its contract with would-be gas purchaser Indiana Finance Authority to comply with an October court ruling and to proceed with the project, Indiana Gasification said in a recent filing with the Indiana Court of Appeals. But opponents of the plant, led by Evansville-based gas and electric utility Vectren, immediately objected.
The Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld state regulators’ rejection of Duke Energy’s bid to pass $11 million in costs it incurred during a 2009 ice storm onto its customers.
Citizens Water is considering changes in the way it bills customers to conserve water during future droughts. Among the changes could be periodic rate hikes to discourage heavy usage on peak days.