Commission approves Indiana Michigan Power rate increase
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Customers of Fort Wayne-based Indiana Michigan Power will soon see their electric bills go up after the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission approved a rate increase for the utility.
The approval follows a settlement agreement reached in December between I&M and the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor.
I&M was approved to increase rates to raise $61.8 million as part of its “Powering Our Future” plan, though that total is nearly half of the $116.4 million it originally requested.
The utility said Wednesday that the increase in base rates for Indiana residential customers will occur over two phases. A typical residential customer paying $166.36 per month, an increase of $4.20, beginning later this month. The second phase would see an additional $4.27 beginning in January 2025.
“With the recent decision from the IURC, Indiana Michigan Power will continue its current work to provide safe, reliable power to our customers while increasing the resiliency of the grid for the future,” I&M President and Chief Operating Officer Steve Baker said in a news release. “Through continuous collaboration with a number of stakeholders, we collectively reached a settlement we feel serves the best interests of our customers.”
I&M said it will use the money raised through the increase to support a $550 million investment in grid resiliency improvements, including replacing more than 2,800 poles and 240 miles of power lines, upgrading 15 substations, and installing more “self-healing” grid technology to detect outages and automatically reroute electricity to improve outage times.
The utility noted that the rate increases will vary among residential, commercial and industrial customers.