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Consumer advocates: CenterPoint rate increase unfair to residents, favors industrial companies

By Rebecca Thiele

Posted July 23, 2024

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More than 300 residents attended a hearing about CenterPoint Energy's rate increase in Evansville in February. (Tim Jagielo/WNIN)

The southern Indiana utility CenterPoint has proposed a settlement in its request to raise customers’ rates. While companies like Toyota and Marathon Petroleum have signed on to the settlement, the city of Evansville and consumer advocates haven’t.

CenterPoint Energy wants to recover the cost of things like replacing poles and lines, smart meters, and handling its coal ash waste.

Under the settlement, the utility would get $38 million less than what it originally asked for. The average resident would now see a $35 a month increase on their bill instead of $47.

But Kerwin Olson with the Citizens Action Coalition said industrial companies would also pay a lower share.

“It still creates really unfair, unbalanced cost allocation that favors large industrials at the expense of residential customers and everybody else. And the community just can't afford it," he said.

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Residents with CenterPoint Energy already pay more than any other investor-owned utility in the state, according to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission's annual report.

Evansville City Council President Zac Heronemus said about half of the city’s residents are struggling to make ends meet and higher energy bills disproportionately affect them.

"When you look at the landscape of affordable housing in our community, that is an aged housing stock. An aged housing stock that, as you may know, is not very environmentally — or energy efficient," he said. "And so you look at these rates and maybe individuals that are middle class, upper middle class and higher — rate increase like this might not impact them that much. But when you’re a low income to moderate income family or individual living in a substandard, aged home — that utility cost really plays a significant burden on their monthly income."

Heronemus said that Indiana law requires utilities to ensure affordable power for their customers. If CenterPoint continues to raise rates, he hopes the governor and state lawmakers will intervene.

The company said it was still looking over responses to the settlement and declined to comment. The IURC will ultimately decide whether to accept the settlement.

This story has been updated.

Rebecca is our energy and environment reporter. Contact her at rthiele@iu.edu or follow her on Twitter at @beckythiele.