Indiana Michigan Power Company, or I&M, has made headlines in the recent weeks for its support of maintaining two of the oldest coal plants without retirement dates, Clifty Creek and Kyger Creek. Both of these plants are owned by an I&M parent company, American Electric Power (AEP), known as the Ohio Valley Electric Corp (OVEC). AEP is the largest shareholder in OVEC, which has an agreement with I&M. This setup is seen as unfair to rate payers by consumer advocacy groups.
The Citizens Utility Board (CUB) has made an effort to inform customers of the current deal going on that directly affects their rates. In their own posts, CUB has raised the question, “Will I&M seek the lowest price it can from a company with which it is affiliated?”
I&M’s plan to keep these plants online that are seen as environmentally harmful and inefficient directly relates to the amount of debt they have incurred through pollution control efforts. Shutting these coal plants down would require OVEC to pay these high debts, instead of keeping the plants online and passing the financial burden onto ratepayers. The MPSC has issued previous warnings to I&M in an effort to encourage them to improve their rates to customers. If ignored, I&M may see more reductions than the $11.2 million in disallowances issued in 2021.
Environmental and consumer advocacy groups such as Sierra Club are pushing for plant closures in order to save customers money. It is projected that the plants are likely to charge over “$101.5 million more for electricity than market value,” if left unchecked. I&M serves over 130,000 customers in Southwest Michigan, including Benton Harbor.
Read more about the efforts of these advocacy groups to lower customer rates here.
Troposphere Legal represented Sierra Club and Citizens Utility Board in the case.