The Vanderburgh County Council is joining the County Commission and City Council in opposing CenterPoint Energy in their electric rate case.
CEI South — the local CenterPoint Energy — has filed a petition with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) that would raise monthly electric rates for a typical residential customer by about $28 dollars by 2026.
The increase in late 2024 would be $10, $6 in 2025 and $12 in 2026.
The proposal would also increase set fees and be able to shut power off on consumers remotely.
The City Council and County Commission are also verbally opposing rate increases, and the city is also pursuing legal avenues to block rate increases.
The resolution was passed at the Wednesday afternoon meeting and echoes themes from the County Commission resolution which was passed in February.
It says that this rate increase would discourage development in the region and be a burden on ratepayers. The average electric bill could be more than $40 higher overall per month by 2026 under the proposed plan.
County Council Member at-Large Joe Kiefer said the resolution doesn’t have any “teeth,” but is a way to send a message.
“We wanted to express to the IURC that we're hearing from our constituents, what we're hearing from the public.”
The IURC will make the final decision on the rate case in the fall.
Kiefer said between the city County Commission and County Council there is a unified voice in opposition to the rate increases.
“I think everybody is saying the same thing. All elected officials; this is not a partisan issue. This is by far a nonpartisan issue, where both parties are saying it just enough and we can't afford another increase. The general public is hurting.”
The non-binding resolution will be sent to the IURC, and hopefully be used as an informal testimony during the case decision.
According to the resolution, the rates are already too high compared to income and will burden ratepayers and suppress development.
Council member Tom Shetler Jr. said when businesses are considering locating in an area, they look at utility costs.
“And when they come across what we pay, or what they're going to have to pay to come in to Evansville to operate their businesses, then we're chasing them right out of town,” he said. “So that's good jobs, it's good opportunities, good investments that we're losing because of the utility rates.”
New member Bob Deig said while rate cases are a problem, the bigger issue is actually the mechanism allowing rates to increase without approval, called trackers. “This is really a state issue, a legislative issue,” he said.
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