Consumer groups say they don't support proposed CenterPoint rate hike settlement

EVANSVILLE — CenterPoint Energy has filed a proposed settlement agreement in its case to raise base electric rates for customers, but none of the consumer advocates support it.

Those signed on in favor of the settlement are other industrial groups that include major local businesses, CenterPoint Energy Indiana South Industrial Group and SABIC Innovative Plastics Mount Vernon, LLC.

The Office of Utility Consumer Counselor, Citizen Action Coalition and the City of Evansville do not support the proposed settlement.

Under the current proposed settlement, a residential customer using 799 kilowatt hours of energy would see a $35.03 increase on their bill. For transitional customers, ones who heat their residence with electric, while standard customers primarily heat their homes with natural gas, the increase to their bill for 1,129 kilowatt hours would be $52.33.

Both totals are lower than originally proposed by CenterPoint in its initial request. The increase for a residential customer to start was nearly $55, and for transitional customers the initial ask was for a $63 increase.

"This agreement represents the result of extensive, good-faith negotiations, captures the issues reviewed by the parties to the rate case, including non-settling parties, and reflects a fair and balanced outcome of those issues among parties with different interests," CenterPoint spokesman Noah Stubbs said in a news release.

The three groups in opposition to the settlement will be able to file testimony against the proposal by July 19. Oliva Rivera, an OUCC spokesperson, said they plan to do just that, detailing their concerns.

"While we closely monitored the discussions, our team did not believe the proposed settlement reached by three parties was acceptable for ratepayers," she said.

The Citizen Action Coalition focused on how only the corporations were in favor of the proposed settlement.

“The audacity of this proposed settlement between only a monopoly utility and a collection of deep-pocketed corporations is alarming,” Kerwin Olson, the executive director of Citizen Action Coalition, said in a news release. “A settlement that disproportionately puts the increase on the backs of residential ratepayers and which will materially harm captive consumers, especially vulnerable households on low and fixed incomes struggling to make ends meet is simply not in the public interest."

Olson said the increase is still too much. Customers are choosing between utility bills and other necessities such as food and healthcare, he said.

Locals already pay the highest residential electric bills in the state, something that was made apparent on Feb. 29, when more than 70 Evansville-area residents and elected officials took to the mic and begged the IURC to reject CenterPoint's proposal.

Due to CenterPoint's monopoly in the Evansville area, customers called themselves "hostages." Some said they had to choose between paying their surging utility bills and buying groceries and prescriptions.

”This outrageous sweetheart deal would impose an unprecedented electric rate increase on Hoosier families in Southwestern Indiana so that CenterPoint can give millions of dollars in rate subsidies every year to large industrial customers,” said Ben Inskeep, program director at Citizen Action Coalition. “Hoosiers need immediate relief from CenterPoint’s unaffordable bills that have been driven higher due to its blank-check spending and the massive corporate welfare included in rates. The Commission must deny this unfair agreement and stand up for Hoosier families.”

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Consumer groups unhappy with proposed CenterPoint rate hike settlement