The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) issued an order in the Indianapolis Power and Light (IPL) case in Cause No. 44242. This was a certificate of need case.
This order comes just one day before the public field hearing in IPL's latest certificate of need case in Cause No. which includes conversion of the Harding Street powerplant to natural gas and the construction of a new 600 MW natural gas fired powerplant near Martinsville, IN. See the next post for details at http://wp.me/p37Lx8-1jQ.
A copy of the IURC order can be found at: http://www.in.gov/iurc/files/44242order_081413.pdf
[This post will be updated as soon as I can review the order and its implications.
Here are a few tidbits from the order just issued this afternoon.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED BY THE INDIANA UTILITY REGULATORY COMMISSION THAT:
1. The Settlement Agreement shall be and hereby is approved as modified.
2. The cost estimate provided by IPL in this Cause for the Compliance Project
($510,983,000) shall be and hereby is approved.
3. The Compliance Project shall be and hereby is detennined to constitute "qualified
pollution control property" and is eligible for the ratemaking treatment described in Ind. Code § 8-1-2-6.8 and provided in the Settlement Agreement and this Order.
4. The Compliance Project shall be and hereby is determined to constitute a "clean
energy project" under Ind. Code §8-1-8.8 and is therefore eligible pursuant to Ind. Code § 8-1-8.8-1 1 (a)(1) for timely recovery of costs and expenses through IPL Standard Contract Rider No. 20 - Environmental Cost Recovery Adjustment ("ECCRA") in six month intervals in accordance with the Settlement Agreement and this Order.
Here is information from the website of the Office of the Utility Consumer Counselor (OUCC) about this case. This information below as well as the OUCC Fact Sheet provides some background for this case.
Indianapolis Power & Light Company (IPL) is requesting approval to install new pollution control equipment at its Petersburg generating station and Unit 7 of its Harding Street station, primarily to reduce mercury emissions. The utility is also requesting approval to recover the construction costs through rates, with rate adjustments to be requested every six months.
In filings with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC), IPL states that it is seeking the plan to comply with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Utility Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS) rule. IPL estimates the compliance plan's capital costs at nearly $511 million, not including financing and demolition costs.
An IURC public field hearing was held on Thursday, January 24, with the OUCC issuing a January 11 news release to invite comments. The fact sheet the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor (OUCC) distributed at the field hearing offers more information.
A settlement agreement among IPL, the OUCC and industrial customers who have intervened in this case was filed on March 13, 2013.
- Testimony from the settling parties is due March 20.
- Non-settling parties have until April 3 to file testimony.
- Settling parties have until April 12 to file rebuttal.
- An IURC evidentiary hearing is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. on April 24, in Room 222 at the PNC Center (101 W. Washington St.) in Indianapolis.
For all publicly filed documents in this case, please visit the IURC's electronic document systemand enter docket number 44242.
This page will be updated based on future developments.
3-15-13