FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): In a WOWO follow up, we talked to Brian Bergsma with American Electric Power, to get AEP’s take regarding a looming rate hike for Indiana Michigan Power customers.
Tonight, the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission will be taking public feedback on I&M’s request to raise customer rates so they can pay for a clean energy project at their coal-fired power plant in Rockport. It provides electricity to Fort Wayne, Elkhart, and Muncie, among other cities. The $274-million project includes a pollution control unit for the facility. An investigation involving the Weather Channel and USA Today identified the plant as one of the country’s biggest polluters.
The utility’s petition specifically seeks approval of a “clean energy project.”
But the question everyone wants answered, what would happen to I&M bills? “Well we are anticipating, if we are able to put on this emission control equipment, it’s about a 2-percent increase for our customers. However, if we look at the groups…asking us to shut down a perfectly reliable generation plant, you’re looking at about 10 times the cost for our customers,” said Bergsma. “So to answer your question, it’s about 10 times more expensive based on what the Indiana Beyond Coal folks are saying.”
But, he continued, if the plant closes, customers will struggle having reliable power moving forward. “…you would be essentially removing that baseload generation, replace it with intermittent; solar, wind whatever it happens to be, which are very important sources of generations for our customers, but they are not baseload, they are not reliable 24/7.”
Opponents, like Jodi Perras with Indiana Beyond Coal, say it’s foolish to put that kind of money into outdated technology, like a coal plant. “We’re calling this the Rockport Ripoff because the plant’s lease, they actually lease this unit from a group of wealthy cooperation’s… who make money off that unit… I&M leases that part of their power plant and then that lease expires by the end of 2022. Well the pollution controls have to be put on by 2019, meaning that they will only be useful to customers for maybe three years and I&M has said, well we may or may not extend that lease, so to us, that’s a Rockport Rip-off.”
A public hearing is being held on the issue tonight, Tuesday, Feb. 21. This is your opportunity to sound off on the proposed rate increase. The hearing will be held at Homestead High School in Fort Wayne at 6:00 p.m., in the Homestead High School Community Room.
RELATED: I&M rate hike hearing
2 comments
It seems like we should be investing our tax dollars into power supplies of the future rather than an old plant based on old technology that a conglomerate of corporations owns. I love energy, but this doesn’t seem sensible to invest in.
How about instead of debating the issue of where to put our money, we stop giving into pressure from corporations like Weather Channel and media sources like USA Today? Is it 100% necessary to retrofit this plant for “cleaner energy”? No. It is not. We give into people who pressure through fear-mongering. Enough of that. It sounds like once again the fear of carbon dioxide has sent everyone into a paranoid state. Scrub the renovation, stop the rate hike, and move on from this subject!