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> NIPSCO to ask for another round of price increases
Southsider2k12
post Nov 15 2009, 02:46 PM
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http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...ArticleID=27048

QUOTE
NIPSCO seeks new rate increase

Deborah Sederberg
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - One electric rate case is still before the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, but NIPSCO's parent company already has made clear its intention to ask for increases in electric and natural gas rates in 2010.

According to the NiSource 2009 Third Quarter Earnings report, NIPSCO anticipates filing another electric base rate case during 2010.

If approved, those rate increases would be effective in 2011.

The current electric case was filed in 2008. If approved it would raise electric rates for residential customers about 15.5 percent, said Nick Meyer, communication manager for NIPSCO.

The company has not yet said what the proposed electric or natural gas hikes for 2010 might be, Meyer said, because although a case has been announced in the NiSource document, no filing has been made.

Shaw Friedman, former attorney for La Porte County, continues to handle the county's opposition to the 2008 rate hike.

"I believe Wall Street continues to push NiSource management to squeeze more profit from NIPSCO," Friedman said.

"The utility should tighten its belts and help Northwest Indiana to get through this recession," he added.

Meyer said NIPSCO has been touched by the recession as well. Pension costs have risen by $55 million since 2006, he noted, but lower demand from commercial and industrial customers has resulted in falling income figures. According to the earnings report, the gas distribution operations division reported a loss of $30 million, which is an improvement over this same period of 2008, when the loss was $57.8 million.

Last summer NIPSCO reduced its 2,568-person workforce by about 2 percent, Meyer said, none union positions. In addition, the company has postponed some major and costly projects, he said.

"To file several rate cases at one time is not that unusual," Meyer said.

A utility must plan for its future because a rate hike is a cumbersome prospect, he said.

A utility cannot raise its rates at will.

Last summer when the IURC conducted a public hearing about the current proposed NIPSCO base rate increase, many of those who testified at the event at Orak Temple in Michigan City not only said they don't want an increase, they told the commission they want a decrease in NIPSCO rates.

"The public has a lot of opportunity for input when NIPSCO asks for a rate increase," Meyer noted. It will be the same with the proposals NIPSCO likely will launch in 2010, he added.

The case that began in 2008 is based on figures from 2007, which Meyer described as a high-demand year. The new proposal will reflect recessionary figures, he said.

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