Author Archives Laura Arnold

OUCC calls for limiting IPL general rate increase to $5.9 million of requested $67.7 million

Posted by Laura Arnold / July 28, 2015 / Posted in Office of Utility Consumer Counselor (OUCC), Uncategorized / No Comments

For Immediate Release July 28, 2015

Contact: Anthony Swinger 1-317-233-2747

State utility consumer advocate calls for dramatic reduction to IPL rate request

OUCC recommends allowing less than one-tenth of the utility’s requested increase,

Urges faster action to address downtown network concerns

The Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor (OUCC) is recommending a dramatic reduction to Indianapolis Power & Light Company’s (IPL’s) requested rate increase. While IPL has asked the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to approve a $67.7 million rate increase, the OUCC recommends limiting the increase to $5.9 million.

IPL’s rate request and the IURC’s investigation of IPL’s network infrastructure have been combined into one case, in which the OUCC filed testimony on Monday.

“The evidence presented by our 14 witnesses shows that IPL has the revenues necessary to provide safe, reliable service to all of its customers, and to make the underground infrastructure upgrades that are strongly needed,” said Indiana Utility Consumer Counselor David Stippler. “However, the evidence also tells a story of misguided leadership and misplaced priorities, with critical downtown infrastructure needs taking a back seat to shareholder dividends.”

Key points in the OUCC’s testimony include the following:

• IPL should be required to increase and accelerate efforts to improve the safety of its downtown electric distribution network. It should also be required to perform a management audit, initiate a performance benchmarking program, and retain an independent third party to audit the utility’s asset management system.

o There have been 14 fires and/or explosions in IPL’s downtown underground network since 2010. However, data show hundreds of cable failures and other network failures over the last 12 years.

o IPL is moving too slowly to install Swiveloc manhole covers, which are designed to stay in place in the event of an underground explosion. As of March 2015, IPL had only replaced 374 downtown manhole covers out of 1,214 – a rate of only 31 percent.

o There is no evidence that IPL, in recent years, has spent more money on its downtown network than its typical expenditures for routine maintenance.

o However, IPL has paid $2.6 billion in dividends to its parent company – IPALCO Enterprises – between 1994 and 2014. Between 2010 and 2014, the dividends totaled $507 million.

• The OUCC’s analysis shows that a partial rate adjustment, increasing total revenues by 0.49 percent, is justified.

o The OUCC recommends a 9.2 percent return on equity for IPL, rather than the 10.9 percent return the utility is seeking.

o Any residential rate increase should be recovered only through the volumetric portion of customer bills.

o IPL’s flat monthly customer charges of $11.00 for customers using more than 325 kilowatt hours (kWh) and $6.70 for customers using less than 325 kWh should remain where they are. The utility has requested permission to raise those charges, respectively, to $17.00 and $11.25.

o The OUCC’s testimony also recommends downward adjustments to numerous line items including costs for off-system sales, storm recovery, regional transmission, and pension matters.

IPL’s current base rates received IURC approval in 1995. Since then, however, the monthly bill for an IPL residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours has risen by more than 43 percent through various rate adjustment mechanisms, or trackers. IPL uses trackers to recover costs for generating fuel, energy efficiency programs, and construction projects aimed at compliance with federal environmental mandates.

IPL has until September 4, 2015 to file rebuttal testimony. An IURC evidentiary hearing is scheduled to start on September 16, 2015.

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(IURC Cause Nos. 44576, 44602)

The Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor (OUCC) represents Indiana consumer interests before state and federal bodies that regulate utilities. As a state agency, the OUCC’s mission is to represent all Indiana consumers to ensure quality, reliable utility services at the most reasonable prices possible through dedicated advocacy, consumer education, and creative problem solving.

Visit us at www.IN.gov/OUCC, www.twitter.com/IndianaOUCC, or www.facebook.com/IndianaOUCC.

Broad Coalition Rejects IPL’s Proposed Monthly Rate Increase in Cause No. 44576

Posted by Laura Arnold / July 28, 2015 / Posted in Uncategorized / No Comments

For Immediate Release July 28, 2015

Contacts:

John Howat, NCLC: (617) 542-8010

Derek Thomas, IIWF: (317) 638-4232

Kerwin Olson, CAC: (317) 702-0461

BROAD COALITION: REJECT IPL’s MONTHLY INCREASE AND CREATE RATE CLASS FOR VULNERABLE POPULATIONS

Expert Testimony: Need for Assistance Program is Critical

INDIANAPOLIS – A broad and diverse coalition of consumer, human service, and social justice organizations filed testimony yesterday in the rate case of Indianapolis Power & Light (IPL), currently pending before the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC), requesting that the IURC reject IPL’s proposed increase in the fixed monthly charge and asking that the IURC order IPL to create a low-income rate class to assist vulnerable Hoosier ratepayers in managing their monthly bills.

The coalition of organizations include Citizens Action Coalition of IN (CAC), Indiana Association for Community Economic Development (IACED), Indiana Coalition of Human Services (ICHS), Indiana Community Action Association (INCAA), Indiana State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Inc. (IN-NAACP), and National Association of Social Workers Indiana Chapter (NASW-IN).

Expert testimony was filed on behalf of the organizations by Mr. John Howat, Senior Policy Analyst for the National Consumer Law Center, and Mr. Derek Thomas, Senior Policy Analyst for the Indiana Institute for Working Families, a program of INCAA. The testimony clearly displays that vulnerable Hoosier households living at or below 150% of the Federal Poverty level have a disproportionate and extremely high energy burden, and as a result are experiencing serious difficulties in managing and paying their monthly IPL bills and more importantly, keeping their households connected.

“Reliable electricity service is a necessity of life. Without electricity, residents cannot participate effectively in present-day society or be secure from threats to health and safety,” stated Mr. Howat. “All IPL customers, including those with low incomes, should have access to reliable and secure sources of electricity.”

Mr. Howat’s examination of the data reveals that households headed by a person over the age of 65 and households headed by an African American person use less electricity on a monthly basis than the average household. Therefore, IPL’s proposed increase in the fixed monthly charge and proposed continuation of a declining block rate structure will disproportionately harm and exacerbate pre-existing electric utility affordability and home energy security problems faced by these households, as well as other low income households, by charging customers more per month regardless of the amount of electricity consumed.

Additionally, Mr. Howat explains that low-income residential customers face arrearage rates and balances that are much higher than those of general residential customers. As a result, low-income households in IPL’s service territory receive disconnection notices and experience loss of electricity service at significantly higher rates than median and higher income households.

“These affordability problems constitute a real threat to the home energy security of IPL’s low-income customers and call for program and policy interventions to mitigate that threat,” Mr. Howat concluded.

In his testimony, Mr. Thomas shows that despite an improving unemployment rate, the number of impoverished and low-income Hoosiers continues to rise, median household income is still declining and income inequality in Indiana is growing. Mr. Thomas points out that today, a record-breaking 1,015,127 Hoosiers are living in poverty.

“What is more concerning is that the rate of impoverished Hoosiers, impoverished Hoosier children and low-income Hoosiers has increased at rates greater than all neighboring states and the U.S. average,” said Mr. Thomas. “While poverty rates in peer states are declining, Indiana’s rate is still increasing.”

“There’s been a lot of talk lately in Indiana regarding the affordability of home energy. It’s long overdue that we quit using that word merely as political rhetoric and that we as a community act on those words and ensure that the most vulnerable among us retain access to basic, necessary electric service,” added Kerwin Olson, Executive Director of CAC.

Citizens Energy Group, the natural gas and water utility for Indianapolis and Marion County, recently proposed a similar program for their low-income water customers in their new rate increase request also pending before the IURC. Additionally, Citizens Energy Group has had a discount program in place for their low-income gas customers for years.

“We encourage IPL to follow the lead of their partner utility here in Indianapolis and keep the financial well-being of their low-income customers in mind,” added Mr. Olson.

Denise Abdul-Rahman, Chair of Indiana’s NAACP Environmental Climate Justice, added “It is unfair for communities of concern to continue to host and bear the burden of an antiquated infrastructure and fossil fuel energy source. Now they are subjected to the possibility of paying more, when they are already surviving by employing energy efficiency tactics out of necessity. "

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Copies of the testimony of John Howat and Derek Thomas are available upon request.

IndianaDG Editor's NOTE: This testimony as well as the prefiled testimony of other Intervenors in this case will eventually be available on the IURC website. See https://myweb.in.gov/IURC/eds/Guest.aspx?tabid=28 then enter <44576> and click the tab for <Filings/Docket Entries>.

Indiana NAACP is the umbrella organization of the thirty-five Indiana branches of the NAACP, the national civil rights organization dedicated to ensuring the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination. IN-NAACP recognizes that low-income communities pay a high proportion of their incomes on energy, the elderly pay the highest proportion of their often fixed incomes on energy than any other age group, and that African Americans pay the highest proportion of their incomes on energy than any other racial group. IN-NAACP recognizes that low income communities are more likely to have their electricity shut off thereby depriving them of essential services and too often resulting in dangerous circumstances through alternative heating efforts. Contact Denise Abdul-Rahman (317) 331-0815

Indiana Association for Community Economic Development (IACED) supports a statewide network of more than 200 community-based nonprofit organizations and associate members in government and private enterprise that build vital communities and resilient families. IACED advocates for public policies and assists the network in developing comprehensive solutions that engage local leadership to generate private and public investment. IACED recognizes that low income communities pay a high proportion of their incomes on energy and believes in a society where all persons should have the opportunity to live and work in an environment that provides economic and social opportunity. Contact Andy Fraizer (317) 454-8535

Indiana Coalition of Human Services (ICHS) mission is to promote public policy that betters the lives of those at risk and in need. ICHS is Indiana’s unified voice for educating, advocating and mobilizing in support of policies that empower Hoosiers striving to reach their full potential. ICHS advocates for: the inclusion of individuals and human service groups in priority setting, policy formulation, program development and evaluation; the development of comprehensive human services programming; and the delivery of quality human services programming in our state and local communities. The coalition’s members voluntarily join together to communicate that all citizens are valued and to ensure that human needs are provided. ICHS recognizes that low income communities pay a high proportion of their incomes on energy and that higher utility rates and charges disproportionately affect Indiana’s most vulnerable populations. Contact David Sklar (317) 501-9314

National Association of Social Workers Indiana Chapter (NASW-IN) mission is to advance professional Social Work practice and the profession, to strengthen human rights, social and economic justice, and insure unimpeded access to services for all. NASW-IN Social Work Strategic Initiative includes increasing awareness and outreach efforts, and providing a clear social justice/political action message that will support and encourage social workers to be involved in the political process. NASW-IN has 3,000 active members and works to support all social work practitioners in their mission to serve and strengthen relationships within diverse populations and to enhance dignity and worth of all people in the State of Indiana. Contact Mark Fairchild (317) 923-9878

Indiana Community Action Association (INCAA) mission is to help the state’s Community Action Agencies address the conditions of poverty and it serves as an advocate and facilitator of policy, planning and programs to create solutions and share responsibility as leaders in the war against poverty. INCAA’s members or network is comprised of Indiana’s twenty-two (22) Community Action Agencies (CAAs), which serve all of Indiana’s ninety-two (92) counties. INCAA’s members administer numerous programs that serve the poor throughout Indiana, including the Federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (“LIHEAP”) and Weatherization Assistance Program (“WAP”). Contact Ed Gerardot (317) 638-4232

Citizens Action Coalition (CAC) mission is to initiate, facilitate and coordinate citizen action directed to improving the quality of life of all inhabitants of the State of Indiana through principled advocacy of public policies to preserve democracy, conserve natural resources, protect the environment, and provide affordable access to essential human services. CAC is dedicated to protecting ratepayers and advocating for affordable healthcare and a clean environment. CAC does this through canvassing, lobbying, community organizing and litigation. Contact Kerwin Olson (317) 702-0461

IURC Workshop for IRP and EEP Rulemaking 7/30/15; Workshop Live Stream Available

Posted by Laura Arnold / July 27, 2015 / Posted in 2015 Indiana General Assembly / No Comments

IURC Workshop for IRP & EEP Rulemaking 7/30/15;

Workshop Live Stream Available

UPDATED MEDIA ADVISORY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Chetrice Mosley

Phone: (317) 232-2297

Email: clmosley@urc.in.gov

CORRECTED WITH UPDATED LINK THAT NOW INCLUDES AN AGENDA AND .PDF OF SEA 412

What: The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission will be holding a rule development workshop for the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) – Energy Efficiency Plan (EEP) rulemaking (IURC RM #15-06). This workshop is a result of the Governor’s Senate Enrolled Act 412 passed during the 2015 legislative session.

When: July 30, 2015, 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Where: Indiana Government Center South, Auditorium, 302 W. Washington Street, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Why: The subject matter of this rulemaking (IURC RM #15-06) amends 170 IAC 4-7 to update the commission’s rule requiring electric utilities to prepare and submit integrated resource plans. In addition, this rulemaking will add a new rule regarding energy efficiency plans.

Instructions to Public: To register for this event, please click here.

Please come prepared to provide input into the issues that you think should be addressed by the IRP-EEP rule. Additional opportunities will be available to provide written and oral comments as we move through the rule development and rulemaking process, which you can follow on our website athttp://in.gov/iurc/2842.htm.

>>Live Stream Available: In an effort to make the event available for more people, the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission has also arranged for the workshop to be live streamed and will be available at: http://www.webinar.in.gov/urc/ on the day of the event. Should you be unable to attend, please feel free to tune in to the live stream. Please be aware that those viewing the live stream will not be able to interface with attendees of the workshop through the live stream tool.

http://in.gov/iurc/files/IRP-EE_Media_Advisory_7_27_15.pdf

About the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) The IURC is a fact-finding body that hears evidence in cases filed before it and makes decisions based on the evidence presented in those cases. An advocate of neither the public nor the utilities, the IURC is required by state statute to make decisions that balance the interests of all parties to ensure the utilities provide safe and reliable service at just and reasonable rates. For more information, please visit www.in.gov/iurc.

Iowa farmer says he’ll remove solar if co-op’s $85 fixed charge stands; Could this happen in Indiana?

Posted by Laura Arnold / July 27, 2015 / Posted in Uncategorized / No Comments

Iowa farmer says he’ll remove solar if co-op’s $85 fixed charge stands

WRITTEN BY Karen Uhlenhuth 07/23/2015

A small rural electric cooperative in Iowa has informed its 3,000 customer-members that, should they install solar panels or other distributed generation, they will pay what appears to be one of the highest monthly charges in the nation.

Pella Cooperative Electric sent out a notification on June 18 alerting customers that the “facilities fee,” which is the fixed part of the monthly bill, will triple from $27.50 per month to $85 per month – but only for customers with solar panels or another source of their own generation.

“I think it is unlawful, and I think it's outrageous compared to any other RECs (rural electric cooperatives) that I know of,” said Mike Lubberden, a Pella-area resident who, for the time being, has ditched his plan to install solar panels. He is seeking legal representation and intends to file a complaint about the matter with the Iowa Utilities Board.

“I'm hoping to get them to back down on this $85 charge.”

Pella's announced charge is “definitely an extremely high fee,” according to Amy Heart, the senior manager of public policy for The Alliance for Solar Choice. It appears to be one of the highest in the Midwest. Heart noted that Rock Energy Cooperative in Janesville, Wisconsin recently adopted a monthly charge of $22.60 per kilowatt, which likely would amount to about $90 a month for a typical residential solar array.

Utilities and co-ops around the country are seeking to increase flat fees that are assessed on customers' bills, saying ratepayers who generate their own power aren't covering their share of the costs of maintaining the grid. Advocates say this approach fails to account for the full value of distributed solar.

Pella's board of directors decided to hike the fee for distributed generators on its system after it did a “cost of service” study, something it does periodically “to make sure the cost-causer is the cost-payer,” according to John Smith, the co-op's chief executive officer.

The study concluded that customers who generate some of their own energy – there are now 12 of them in Pella's territory – are not paying their share of the co-op's costs to maintain and operate assets such as poles and power lines and transformers.

Smith declined to allow Midwest Energy News to review the study, saying it is “confidential” and “not subject to distribution.”

Although there is a fixed portion of the bill that is designed to cover fixed costs, Smith said it doesn't really do that. The co-op actually looks to the variable part of the bill, which reflects the amount of energy used, to cover some of the fixed costs, according to Smith. Therefore, a customer-generator, by using less power, also pays less towards maintaining the entire transmission and distribution system. How much less? $57.50 per month less, according to the coop's calculation.

By hiking the fee paid by the system's distributed generators, Smith said, the coop is “protecting the rest of the ratepayers to make sure they don't pay costs unfairly.”

Michelle Wei, a solar installer in the Des Moines area, dismissed that as “total nonsense,” and said that the increased fee likely would exceed the total monthly bill of many customers.

In his June 5 bill, for example, Lubberden said there's an “energy charge” of $83 – less than the $85 fee the co-op is proposing.

The co-op is giving its current customer-generators five years before they have to pay the higher fee. That applies also to anyone who can get a system operating by Aug. 15. Anyone installing a system after that date will be required to begin paying the $85 monthly fee immediately.

Bryce Engbers, whose hog-confinement operation accounts for three of the 12 distributed generators now on Pella's system, said that he's done the math and foresees removing the solar panels on his home and his two hog barns before mid-August, 2020. He anticipates that his son will also remove his solar system.

Last year, Engbers said, the 3.5-kilowatt system on his home produced about 5,320 kilowatt hours of power. At 12 cents per kilowatt hour, that's a savings of $638, he said – compared with the $85 monthly fee, which over the course of a year would amount to $1,020.

“As you can see, this fee makes my home system absolutely and totally worthless,” he said. “In fact, I will have them de-install it, or I will be losing $400 a year.”

He has scheduled a meeting in a couple of weeks to discuss his concerns with the co-op's board of directors.

“I've informed them that they're in violation of Iowa Code 476.21.”

It states: “A municipality, corporation or co-operative association providing electrical or gas service shall not consider the use of renewable energy sources by a customer as a basis for establishing discriminatory rates or charges for any service or commodity sold to the customer or discontinue services or subject the customer to any other prejudice or disadvantage based on the customer's use or intended use of renewable energy sources.”

Although the arrays on his two hog barns perform better, Engbers said, “In 2020, all of my systems will be shut down, even my 10K systems. The advantage is going to be so small that the savings won't be worth keeping them running, unless we have battery storage at that time....in which case I'll double all my systems and keep that energy in a battery. And I'll be using even less of [Pella's] energy.”

Inovateus Solar breaks ground on I&M’s first solar facility south of Marion, IN

Posted by Laura Arnold / July 24, 2015 / Posted in Indiana Michigan Power Company (I&M), solar, Uncategorized / No Comments

Photo from Inovateus Solar

South Bend company breaks ground on I&M's first solar facility

Posted: Fri 1:57 PM, Jul 24, 2015

By: Brandon Kusz

A South Bend solar products company broke ground Friday on Indiana Michigan Power's first solar generation facility.

Inovateus Solar was contracted to design and build the facility, which will be located just south of Marion, Indiana.

The facility will consist of about 10,000 solar panels on nearly 17 acres of ground. It will have a capacity of 2.5 megawatts and is expected to begin generating energy by the end of this year.

I&M also expects to begin construction on a facility in Mishawaka by the end of the year. Facilities are also planned west of South Bend and near Watervliet, Michigan.

Learn more about Inovateus Solar at www.inovateussolar.com

From Indiana Michigan Power:

Indiana Michigan Power (I&M), an operating unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), broke ground today on its first solar generation facility.

The facility will consist of about 10,000 solar panels on about 17 acres of ground just south of Marion, Indiana, adjacent to an I&M service center. The facility will have a capacity of 2.5 megawatts and is expected to begin generating energy by the end of this year.

The Deer Creek solar facility is the first to be owned and operated by I&M and its parent company, AEP.

“This is truly an historic day for I&M and for Marion,” said Paul Chodak III, President and Chief Operating Officer of Indiana Michigan Power. “Adding this clean, renewable energy further diversifies I&M’s generation portfolio, and it is an important step toward recognizing the increasing preferences of our customers, our company and our government for green energy.”

The Marion facility is one of four solar facilities that will generate up to about 15 megawatts of energy for I&M by the end of 2016.

“Together, these facilities will provide I&M an opportunity to gain valuable experience in the design and construction of utility-scale solar projects,” Chodak said. “They will enable I&M to become proficient in operating solar generation and integrating it reliably into the energy delivery grid. This knowledge will be of use to I&M and its customers as we move toward adding utility-scale solar in the coming years.”

Marion is an appropriate location for I&M to deploy cutting edge technology. More than a century ago, a transmission line was built to connect Marion’s local utility with Muncie’s – the first interconnection between electric utilities in the nation. Those two utilities were among the first the newly formed American Gas and Electric, AEP’s forerunner, purchased in 1907.

I&M contracted with an Indiana company, Inovateus Solar of South Bend, to design and build the facility.

Construction is expected to begin within a few weeks.

The panels are expected to generate the most energy when it is needed most – during hot, sunny summer days.

Later this year, I&M expects to begin construction on a second facility in Mishawaka. Facilities are also planned west of South Bend and near Watervliet, Mich.