The city of Hammond will protest any electric rate increases sought by NIPSCO and is calling on other Lake County communities to do the same, according to Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr.
"With all the cuts governments across Indiana are facing, I find it unbelievable a utility could ask for a 20 percent rate increase," McDermott said.
McDermott on Tuesday kept referring to a 20 percent rate increase, although NIPSCO has not yet filed its rate request with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission and has not said how much of an increase it will seek.
NIPSCO spokesman Nick Meyer said the utility has put out no figures yet on what kind of rate change it will seek.
"I'm not certain of where he's pulling that from," he said of McDermott's figure.
The utility is due to file that information in August. At the end of June, it filed a petition with the IURC signalling its intent to file a rate case, and briefly outlining the many ways it intends to recover costs and make money on its electricity business.
NIPSCO has not filed a full rate case since 1987.
Another utility, Indiana Michigan Power, currently has a rate case before the IURC in which it is seeking a 14 percent overall increase in rates.
Communities such as Hammond are able to present evidence and testify at rate case hearings if they file as intervenors in the case. Hammond is doing so this week, McDermott said.
LaPorte County also is filing as an intervenor in the rate case. LaPorte County has fought several battles with the utility, including a fight to keep maintenance hubs open and challenging the price the utility charges for power it buys from other utilities.
McDermott said the fight to keep maintenance hubs open is why Hammond still has a NIPSCO maintenance hub within the city limits.
He said NIPSCO has been a key instigator of cuts at the local government level, due to its sponsorship of the Good Government Initiative study performed by Maximus Corp.
"Why aren't we asking the same questions of this utility monopoly as we are asking of Hammond, Gary, East Chicago and Lake County?" McDermott said.
The mayor said the utility should look at trimming its own operations before passing along costs to customers.
The IURC will set a hearing schedule once it receives NIPSCO's rate case filing in August. The public will be able to comment in writing to the agency. The IURC also may schedule field hearings to take public comment.
