Indiana Michigan (I&M/AEP) Cases Before The IURC In Which CAC Has Intervened
Last update: May 2024
Active Cases
There are currently no active cases involving Indiana Michigan that CAC has intervened in.
Closed Cases
File date: 8/9/2023
Order date: 5/8/2024
Status: settlement approved
You can get more detail about this case on our I&M Rate Hike (2023) webpage.
In August 2023, Indiana Michigan Power filed a new base rate case before the IURC. I&M wants to raise your bills by $14.83 a month so they can raise their annual operating revenues by $116.4 million and significantly increase their profit margin.
2023 Cases
45868 - I&M Four Solar Projects
File date: 3/28/2023
Order date: 10/18/2023
Status: approved
In March 2023, I&M asked for approval of four separate solar projects: a) the acquisition through two Purchase and Sale Agreements (“PSAs”) of the Lake Trout and Mayapple solar power generating facilities (“Solar PSA Projects”); and b) two solar Renewable Energy Purchase Agreements (“REPAs,” also referred to herein as power purchase agreements (“PPAs”)) for the Elkhart County and Sculpin Projects (“Solar PPA Projects”). I&M is proposing to purchase the output from two independently owned and operated solar projects through renewable power purchase agreements (“PPA”), while proposing to invest about $1 billion of ratepayer money to own and operate the other two solar projects through purchase sale agreements (“PSA”). We filed testimony recommending that the IURC approve the two solar PPAs while denying the two costly PSA projects proposed to be owned and operated by the Company. In lieu of the Solar PSA Projects, we recommended that I&M pursue more cost effective solar PPA projects and/or wind PPA projects as well as creating one or more tariff options for distributed solar and third-party community solar.
The IURC approved I&M’s proposal without modification in October 2023.
45869 - I&M Gas Capacity Purchase Agreement
File date: 3/30/2023
Order date: 8/16/2023
Status: approved
I&M asks for approval of the Montpelier CPA, which is a seven-year, capacity-only contract between I&M and Rockland Capital. It provides for the purchase of 210 MW of PJM accredited capacity beginning in PJM capacity year 2027/2028 (or June 1, 2027) and ending with the PJM capacity year 2033/2034 (or May 31, 2034).
45701 - 2023-2025 Demand Side Management (energy efficiency) Plan
File date: 3/31/2022
Order date: 1/4/2023
Status: settlement approved
CAC was able to reach a global settlement with I&M and the OUCC, resolving all issues in this case. Most notably, the settlement brings I&M a long way from its prior energy savings goal figure in 2020-2022 of an average of 0.3% of retail sales and provides I&M a good pathway to ramp up savings back to a more reasonable level. The settlement’s 3-year average savings target of 0.78% of retail sales (with a stretch goal of an additional 0.30%) will bring I&M much closer to an optimal balance of energy resources than what I&M previously had with its much lower energy savings goal.
2022 Cases
File date: 7/1/2021
Order date: 2/23/2022
Status: settlement approved
I&M is back again for its third base rate increase in 4 years. I&M’s request includes another proposed sizeable increase to the fixed customer charge of residential customers, a continuance of its declining block energy charges, a proposal for Advanced Metering Infrastructure deployment, and related concerning items to consumer advocates, such as the request to waive on-site visits before disconnection of service due to nonpayment. CAC agreed to a settlement that resulted in a rate decrease with no increase in the fixed monthly charge on customer bills.
45506 - Excess Distributed Generation
File date: 3/1/2021
Order date: 1/26/2022
Status: approved
SEA309 (2017) ended net metering in Indiana. Net metering is a fair and simple way to credit solar owners for the electricity they generate but don’t use themselves. Instead, the solar owner earns a bill credit for energy shared with their neighbors on the electric grid valued at the same rate as electricity purchased from the utility - an even 1:1 swap. As a result of SEA309, Indiana’s investor-owned utilities replaced net metering with an arbitrarily designed Excess Distributed Generation (EDG) tariff that credits new solar customers far less on their monthly bills for the extra electricity they generate.
- The outcome of this case was affected by the outcome of the CenterPoint 45378 case.
- Sarah Bowman at the IndyStar wrote a comprehensive piece about this in November 2022: Advocates, utilities ask Indiana Supreme Court to decide how solar customers are charged.
- In response to the January 2023 Supreme Court Opinion regarding net metering, CAC and our partners at Solar United Neighbors wrote an op-ed (Solar opinion undermines growing industry), which was published by the Indiana Capital Chronicle on January 9th.
