CAC to IURC: Affordability must be considered in Duke rate case

The Citizens Action Coalition (CAC), working with outside counsel Earthjustice, has filed testimony in the pending electric rate case of Duke Energy Indiana, making numerous recommendations to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) intended to mitigate the impact of this obscene proposal on captive ratepayers.

If Duke’s request is approved as filed, a residential customer using 1,000 kWh per month would see his bill increase from $128.60 as of April 2024, to $170.67 by March 2026, or an increase of $42.07 (32.7 percent) would be the highest ROE for any investor-owned electric utility in the state.

“Duke’s proposal would impose extreme rate shock and unfairly burden its residential customer base, which has experienced significant and worsening affordability challenges,” CAC Program Director Ben Inskeep said. “This rate case is inconsistent with the policy of the State of Indiana and the General Assembly’s repeated emphasis that electric utility bill affordability is a priority.

“Disappointingly, while Duke proposes a destabilizing rate increase that places a disproportionate burden on residential customers, it has not offered material improvements to its programs that would meaningfully help residential customers with their unaffordable electric bills. I urge the IURC to do everything in its power to ensure affordability is incorporated into its decision.”

Inskeep’s testimony recommends the IURC:

• Reduce Duke’s authorized Return on Equity (ROE) or profit.Reduce or eliminate punitive charges and fees such as deposits, late fees, reconnection charges and payment transaction charges.

• Prohibit Duke from charging customers for costs related to Gulfstream jets and a private helicopter for executive travel, utility association membership dues that primarily benefit shareholders, filing and litigating this rate case, unidentified economic development projects, corporate restructuring, studying carbon capture and storage at the Edwardsport IGCC, certain proposals regarding coal ash and alleged lost revenues resulting from implementation of voluntary Time-Of-Use rates.

• Deny Duke’s proposal to raise the monthly fixed charge.

• Deny Duke’s request to continue using declining block rates and instead, order Duke to replace those rates with a flat per-kWh rate.

• Require that Duke establish a Residential Affordable Power Rider to provide immediate direct bill-assistance to low-income and vulnerable households.

• Impose a temporary moratorium on disconnections to allow time for Duke and interested stakeholders to establish and implement affordability and health/safety measures.

• Direct Duke to develop a new Distributed Generation (DG) Tariff to address existing barriers that consumers face in installing and benefiting from rooftop solar and other DG technologies.

Testimony on behalf of CAC was also filed by Indra Frank, Coal Ash adviser for the Hoosier Environmental Council. Frank’s testimony speaks to the coal ash closure plans filed by Duke Energy in this case.

“Duke has engaged in risky and imprudent coal ash disposal practices decades after the risks,” Frank said.

“The IURC should require Duke to perform a comprehensive evaluation of current and future costs for each of its coal ash disposal sites, so that the IURC can evaluate the cleanup methods that will best serve Duke’s customers in the long run,” recommended Frank. “The IURC should not force consumers to pay for cleaning up coal ash that Duke disposed of in an unsafe and imprudent manner.”

Evidentiary hearings in the case before the IURC are scheduled to commence on Aug. 29 in Indianapolis with a final order expected from the IURC in the first quarter of 2025.