Alliant claims settlement will lower customer costs from current interim bills –
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – November 27, 2012 – The Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) has approved the settlement Interstate Power and Light Company (IPL), a subsidiary of Alliant Energy Corporation (NYSE: LNT) reached between the Iowa Office of Consumer Advocate (OCA) and the Iowa Consumers Coalition (ICC) in regards to IPL’s natural gas base rate case filed in May 2012.
The IUB approved an increase in IPL’s annual natural gas service revenue requirement of approximately $10.5 million and a ten percent return on common equity. The IUB approved a Cost Management Plan, proposed by IPL, which will use tax benefits to credit customer bills and mitigate any impact on base rates for a period of three years. New rates are expected to take effect in the first quarter of 2013.
“We are pleased at the outcome and appreciate the effort of all parties to come to a settlement that the Iowa Utilities Board could approve,” said Tom Aller, President-IPL. “With this settlement, the Cost Management Plan, and low natural gas prices, our customers will continue to benefit from some of the lowest natural gas costs in years.”
The cost of gas makes up, on average, 60 to 70 percent of the average residential natural gas bill. This cost of gas is a dollar-for-dollar pass-through for customers, and is unaffected in this rate case proposal. Because of lower gas costs, the average current residential bill is down nearly 20 percent since IPL’s last rate case in 2005.
The natural gas rate case filed by IPL was the company’s first in seven years and is designed to recover more than $70 million in infrastructure investments made to the natural gas distribution systems since the last case.
In Iowa, IPL provides natural gas service to more than 240 communities. The larger communities served by IPL includes Ames, Marshalltown, Mason City, Clinton, Muscatine, and Burlington.
