When: Feb. 23,
5:30 p.m.
Where: Iowa Utilities Board, John Norris Hearing Room, 1375 E. Court Ave.
Sioux City
When: March 6,
5:30 p.m.
Where: Briar Cliff University, Stark Student Center,
Clare Room, 3303 Rebecca St.
Council Bluffs
When: March 13, 5:30 p.m.
Where: Council Bluffs Public Library, Rooms A and B, 400 Willow Ave.
After more than 15 years of flat electrical rates, the utility that provides power to most of western Iowa plans to increase them in March and then again next January.
Under MidAmerican Energy's proposal, rates for the average household will rise slightly more than 3 percent in March. That means, on average, residential customers will pay about $2.33 more per month.
The projected rate increase for residential accounts would be a bit less than 2 percent in January 2013.
MidAmerican's rate of 6 cents per kilowatt hour has remained the same since 1995, said Tina Potthoff, a spokeswoman for the company.
"We are taking a look at rates, because there are some additional expenses we see coming down the pipeline," Potthoff said.
Those expenses include a new coal transportation contract — the current one with Union Pacific Railroad ends this year — and current and expected federal environmental regulations.
The rate increase could be reversed or reduced by the Iowa Utilities Board, which must decide on any increase. If the board votes it down, MidAmerican would refund customers, Potthoff said.
The Iowa Utilities Board has scheduled six public meetings across Iowa, including one each in Sioux City and Council Bluffs. People will be able to comment or ask questions of board members and officials with MidAmerican and the Iowa Office of Consumer Advocate. The latter is the state agency that focuses on consumers' interests.
The Sioux City meeting is March 6, and the Council Bluffs meeting is March 13.
"This is a great opportunity for customers to get out and speak directly ... about any comments and concerns that they may have on MidAmerican's proposal. And also they can comment generally on the service they receive from the company," said board spokesman Rob Hillesland.
MidAmerican is the primary utility in western Iowa, serving Pottawattamie, Woodbury, Mills, Harrison and Shelby Counties, among others.
About 565,000 residential, industrial and commercial customers statewide would be affected by the rate increase, which applies only to electric customers in Iowa.
A deal between MidAmerican and state regulators in 1997 froze rates at the 1995 level. The freeze expires in 2013, but the March increase is allowed under a clause that enables MidAmerican to adjust rates to deal with specific new circumstances. In this case, those are environmental regulation, the transportation contract and the rising cost of coal.
World-Herald staff writer Nancy Gaarder contributed to this report.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1310, andrew.nelson@owh.com
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