Posted on 03/09/2010 10:50:50 PM PST by iowamark
Alliant Energy’s Iowa customers will be seeing higher bills this month to pay for the utility’s investments in green energy.
The utility plans to ask state regulators for a 13.8 percent, $163 million annual rate increase today to pay for a new $468 million wind farm, and to improve its ability to transmit energy from renewable sources.
The 200-megawatt Whispering Willow Wind Farm in Franklin County is the first owned by Alliant’s Interstate Power & Light utility.
It began operating in December, and has enough capacity to serve about 150,000 homes at full output.
Improving the transmission grid to enable transmission of power from new wind farms is a major part of Alliant’s request for an additional $228 million to improve its reliability.
The third-largest item is a $188 million investment in new controls to reduce emissions of mercury and nitrogen oxides by 90 percent at a coal-burning power plant in Lansing.
The average residential customer would see rates go up by about $10.62 per month or 11.7 percent to $101.36 when the interim increase takes effect March 20, and an extra 2 percent to 8 percent when the final rates take effect later this year.
“We fully support the move towards green power, but there’s a cost,” Alliant spokesman Ryan Stensland said.
Interstate Power & Light received final approval on a 7 percent rate increase in January, mainly to pay for costs of recovering from record floods in June 2008 and ice storms in recent winters.
IPL President Tom Aller told The Gazette Editorial Board on Tuesday that the utility isn’t thrilled to be asking for back-to-back rate increases.
“We’re very sensitive to the economic circumstances our customers are facing,” Aller said. He said Alliant decided not to carry over several requests it was denied in its last rate case.
The utility plans to offer consumer groups an incentive to settle before it goes to a full Iowa Utilities Board hearing. The proposed “cost management plan” would lower the rate increase to a total of 6 percent overall for the first three years, then increase it to 13.8 percent.
The increase would be temporarily reduced mainly by tapping regulatory reserve accounts from the sale of the Duane Arnold Energy Center to the company that’s now NextEra Energy, and the sale of the company’s transmission assets to ITC Midwest.
Transmission costs have jumped since Alliant sold the transmission system.
The utility is asking state regulators in the case for a transmission “rider” clause on bills that would pass along ITC’s rate changes to customers in the same way that changing fuel costs are quickly tacked onto bills.
The rate increase could be considerably higher than 13.8 percent for some general service and residential Alliant customers. That’s because Alliant is proposing to make the final implementation date the roll-in date for the fifth and final phase of a process to equalize rates between different Alliant service territories.
To pay for a wind farm?
I suspect Zer0 won’t be hollering about this big green rate hike...
Whoops! Another private industry that is increasing rates — can’t have that! Time for soros and ayers, um I mean obama, to move in and take over this industry! It worked so well when carter did it!
I you live in a windy or sunny area, you can build your own power plants and make them cost-effective. Having an off-grid place, I’ve studied alternative energy for a long time. Probably the best form of alternative energy that we have working now is that of solar heating systems.
So don’t limit your actions to complaining about the crazy spending of government-tied energy companies and their wasteful ways. Instead, learn to use less energy and produce some of your own. Put the squeeze on their revenues (and government revenues).
$1000 Solar Water Heater
http://builditsolar.com/Experimental/PEXColDHW/Overview.htm
Home-built wind turbines that are actually durable enough for windy areas.
Our latest 10 foot wind turbine
http://www.otherpower.com/turbineplans.html
Wind Power
http://www.otherpower.com/otherpower_wind.shtml
And if you don’t know how to weld steel, don’t want to get dirty, etc., don’t write flames against wind turbines or other alternative energy solutions for homes. Have someone else build it for you. And respect your neighbor’s right to build what he wants to build on his own property. It’s the law, regardless of what ordinances the local NIMBY hens have passed.
...almost forgot the best one. Build it, if you have the right place for it, and help us to starve the corporate-government beast.
The Solar Shed — Using Solar Collectors Mounted on an Outbuilding for House Heating
http://builditsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/SolarShed/solarshed.htm
How’s that for trickle down economics....?
Same will happen when or if ObamaCare is passed, Cap and Tax is shoved up our arses, and whatever else Pelosi, Reid, and Jack Squat Barry incompetent selves can merrily stomp us into the next mudhole with.
Thanks for posting the links
Transmission costs have jumped since Alliant sold the transmission system.
BTW, I don’t know whether you have a technical or engineering background, but big corporates effectively outlawed home-built collectors with the 2006 IRC (M2301.3.1 Collectors, International Residential Code). Local governments are using such special interest regulations to stop legitimate, superior personal uses of private properties and to extract ill-gotten revenues from a few.
It would probably take several days for me to list many of the efforts of established businesses using governments and other regulatory gangs (like the ICC) against homeowners and potential small business competition. If that continues, there won’t be any lower level regulatory enforcement. And large group business interests will be shut down. If I can’t make collectors, for example, Jose’ or Mr. Chang can send a few with all required tags (even SRCC approved) for about $500 apiece. ...not to mention new local agreements on home-built collectors and many other trades.
The economy we’re seeing is not the fault of Americans who have technical abilities, but near the end of our patience, we can surely legally and honorably take out the trash and rebuild. And we’re irked pretty near to the point of doing so.
I have a BS in Elec Eng, specialized in power systems, some grad level work. I design facilities in the oil/gas/petrochem industries.
Not to worry. Once they pay for the wind farm, the grid improvements, and the emission controls, they will reduce the rates back to what they are now. Trust me.
Signed:
Barack Obama
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