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Vectren power rates highest in Ind., NIPSCO No. 2

Vectren Corp. customers pay the highest residential electricity rates in Indiana, records from the state Utility Regulatory Commission show.

The Vectren rates are more than 50 percent higher than the state average, according to the commission records. The Indiana average for all utilities is $100.58 for 1,000 kilowatt hours.

Residents in Vectren's southwestern Indiana service territory paid $155.10 for 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity in July, or more than $40 more than the rates charged by 20 of Indiana's 22 electric utilities. The second highest rate for an investor-owned utility like Vectren was $110.37 for the same amount of power paid by residential customers of Northern Indiana Public Service Co.

Vectren spokeswoman Chase Kelley told the Evansville Courier & Press ( http://bit.ly/rejwQ4) for a report Sunday that Vectren's rates are higher than others partly because it has spent $410 million in environmental controls for its 1,300-megawatt fleet of generating units over the last decade.

"That has made our fleet among the cleanest in the Midwest, but at the same time, that has sent our rates up about 30 percent over the last decade," Kelley said.

She said emissions from those units are 100 percent scrubbed for sulfur dioxide, which contributes to acid rain, as well as 90 percent controlled for nitrous oxide. The emissions are filtered for mercury and particulate matter _ pollutants that affect air quality.

Under new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules, other utilities will need to make similar investments in the coming years.

"We at this time have made the right call, and that investment, for us, is going to pay off, as others start to spend these dollars," Kelley said.

NIPSCO currently is spending $600 million on capital improvements, and Duke Energy Indiana is building a nearly $3 billion coal-gasification power plant in Edwardsport.

The Utility Regulatory Commission this year approved a Vectren rate increase expected to be worth $28.6 million in extra annual revenue to compensate the company for lower demand and the cost of new equipment.

"Another thing to consider is where utilities are in their rate case cycles," Kelley said. "We were recently approved, while others, it's been several years since they have filed. There's a chance that others are getting ready to file in the short term here, and that will certainly influence bill amounts."

However, some Vectren customers are feeling the pain of higher rates now. Harold Vore, Jr., 46, of Santa Claus told the Courier & Press his electric bill is about $375 per month in the summer _ nearly twice what it was five years ago _ even after he installed more efficient light bulbs and dialed his air conditioner back to nearly 80 degrees.

"For the consumer, there's no alternative. There's no competitive element. We're essentially at their mercy," Vore said.

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