The case is docketed at the IURC as Cause Number 45870. 

FEBRUARY 2024 UPDATE: The IURC issued an order addressing these major items:

• Indiana-American Water’s (IAW) rate increase is 24% (31.77% increase requested originally)
• IAW profit (return on equity, ROE) set at 9.65% (they asked for 10.6%)
• Raises the average customer's bill by $10.19 per month (they wanted $14/month)
• Raises residential fixed customer charge from $15.25 to $20, against CAC’s recommendation
• Rejected IAW request to waive $1,163,647 credit card processing fees applied to individual customers and include those fees in cost of service.
• Said IAW’s disconnection, reconnection, and collection policies and procedures are consistent with the IURC’s rules, so declined to require any modifications based on the CAC’s recommendations. However, IURC encouraged IAW to continue discussions with CAC and others about additional options for decreasing the number of residential disconnections and improving the reconnection process, particularly for the more vulnerable residential customers.
• Universal Affordability Tariff rejected, primarily because (1) there was no utility shareholder contribution; (2) it required customers to submit documentation that is largely duplicative of documentation required for other assistance programs (the second was an issue raised by CAC); (3) the prior low income pilot program failed; (4) while IAW argued that lower income customers are subsidizing higher income customers, the program fails to address the cause of the subsidization. Thus, the Commission denied the Universal Affordability Tariff and encouraged IAW “to return to the drawing board and design a new Universal Affordability.”
• Utility Receipts Tax refund shall be issued with 8% statutory interest rate since IAW delayed the refund.
• Non-recurring charges, including reconnection charge, insufficient fund charge, and after hours service charge, shall not be eliminated, as suggested by CAC.
• Encouraged IAW to periodically review and revise its tariffs to be clearer and more understandable and to continue to be responsive to customer and stakeholder feedback about improving the presentation of, and ability to understand, IAW’s tariff.
• Encouraged IAW to review the feasibility of offering in-person customer service options in light of financial, operations, and customer convenience cost-benefits, and to ensure that each of its payment locations are provided with IAW customer service contact information that can be provided to customers.

JULY 2023 UPDATE: CAC filed extensive testimony (PDF download) recommending that the IURC:

• Take into consideration affordability of total water and wastewater bills when deciding this case, including rejecting all components in the revenue requirement that would produce unjust and unreasonable rates.
• Approve the Universal Affordability Tariff, as well as CAC’s recommended modifications designed to improve affordability and ensure robust participation.
• Approve the allowance-based rate proposal.
• Deny Indiana American’s proposal to increase its monthly fixed charge.
• Deny Indiana American’s request to increase its return on equity and reduce the authorized return on equity to improve affordability.
• Direct Indiana American to provide its complete tariffs, rules, and regulations in a text selectable and searchable format the adheres to best practices on accessibility.
• Improve its practices regarding disconnections by:
  
  • eliminating the use of its internal credit score
  • ceasing the practice of involuntary disconnection for customers with serious medical conditions
  • ensuring customers have the ability to receive prompt reconnection, including after hours on business days Monday through Thursday.
• Direct Indiana-American to immediately return via a one-time bill credit all revenue, plus interest, associated with the Utility Receipts Tax that was collected after its repeal, and consider a reduction to Indiana-American’s authorized ROE.
• Approve Indiana-American’s proposal to eliminate the $1.95-per-transaction charged for payments using credit cards, and direct Indiana American to eliminate all other per-transaction charges assessed on residential customers for any other payment types, including by phone and debit card.
• Reduce the following charges to $0: late payment fees, reconnection, insufficient funds, and after hours service.
• Encourage Indiana-American to work with CAC on developing a non-behavioral water conservation program that can benefit Indiana-American’s ratepayers.
• Take any other actions necessary to protect consumers and ensure affordable water and wastewater service is available to all customers.

• Step 1 would take effect on or around January 1, 2024
• Step 2 would take effect on or around April 1, 2024
• Step 3 would take effect on or around April 1, 2025

If this rate hike is approved by the IURC, the typical water bill for a customer who uses 4,000 gallons a month would go up $14.47 a month, or about 80¢ a day, when fully implemented in 2025.

Indiana-American wants you to pay more so they can have higher profits

In this case, Indiana-American is asking for a substantial bump in their profit margin, seeking to increase their current authorized return of 9.6% to an astonishing 10.4%. That request has a material impact on the overall rate increase and should be rejected, no questions asked, especially understanding that in 2022, the average return granted investor-owned water utilities in the United States was 9.61%.

Asking to significantly increase profits while consumers are getting crushed and struggling to make ends meet is immoral and unjust. 

Indiana-American Water Company owns 32 public water systems and 5 wastewater systems throughout Indiana.  They serve 328,000 water customers and 2,400 wastewater customers in 23 of Indiana’s 92 counties, which include the cities of Gary, Greenwood, Hobart, Jeffersonville, Kokomo, Merrillville, Muncie, New Albany, Noblesville, Portage, Richmond, Terre Haute, West Lafayette, and others. A complete list of the communities that they serve is available here. 

Indiana-American has made some large capital investments in the distressed utilities they have purchased, such as:

• main replacements and relocations
• meters and hydrants
• new wastewater treatment plants
• lead service line replacements

Additionally, some of the costs included in the increase are related to the acquisition of smaller utilities by Indiana-American Water.  

They have proposed a new allowance-based rate for all residential customers of $20 per month. This new rate would include the monthly fixed meter charge, which is currently set at $15.26 for most residential customers, as well as the first 1,500 gallons of water consumed. Any gallons consumed over 1,500 gallons would be billed on volumetric rates. For a point of reference, the average water customer uses approximately 4,055 gallons per month.