A Northwest Indiana state senator introduced two amendments to a House electric affordability bill that were shot down before the legislation makes its way to the Senate floor.
State Sen. Rodney Pol Jr., D-Chesterton, introduced an amendment that would require electric utilities to offer 12-month payment plans and another that would require companies to explain rates in customer billing. Both amendments failed in a 2-7 vote Thursday morning.
“I’ve been contacted non-stop by folks in my community just asking for help with the recent rate increases,” Pol said.
Although the amendments failed, House Bill 1002 — authored by state Rep. Alaina Shonkwiler, R-Noblesville — passed the Senate Appropriations Committee in a unanimous vote. The bill is expected to move to the Senate floor on second reading at a later date.
Shonkwiler’s legislation is one of the Indiana House’s priority bills this session, and it is designed to help lower electric utility costs statewide. House Bill 1002 introduces both performance-based and multiyear ratemaking, Shonkwiler said Thursday morning.
If passed, the bill would allow some residential ratepayers to be placed on budget billing plans on July 1, and utilities will be prohibited from disconnecting low-income customers’ services during periods with extreme heat warnings. House Bill 1002 also ties utility profits to performance metrics, including affordability and service restoration, and utilities will use a three-year rate plan.
“This ensures predictability for families who want it while fully preserving the individual decision-making,” Shonkwiler said. “Paired with safeguards during extreme weather and increased transparency, these provisions are about protecting households from volatility, not directing how users manage their energy.”
Pol introduced his first amendment because he thinks budget billing would help more customers if it was expanded to a year. As of now, most budget billing plans are six months.
“This would prohibit the electricity supplier from assessing late fees or delinquency fees when they’re in compliance with those plans,” Pol said.
Pol believed his second amendment would help make bills more understandable for customers, and it would require rate information and quarterly reports on “customer-facing” reports. He said customers are getting bills and don’t understand what they’re paying for.
“Our utility users want to be able to flip the switch and know that it’s working,” Pol said. “There needs to be a little bit better explanation because folks are absolutely losing it right now when they open their bills and see what they owe.”
Before the committee passed the bill, state Sen. Fady Qaddoura, D-Indianapolis, said he supports the legislation and making electricity more affordable, but he’d like to see the legislature take greater action to make utilities affordable.
Qaddoura would like for communities with data centers to no longer grant 50-year tax exemptions to the developers, saying that the existing precedent for state law allows for exemptions to renew for up to five years. He’d also like the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to not allow rate increases of more than 3%.
“I think it’s helpful to cap an appointed board’s authority to a certain percentage, just in case the mechanics of the performance don’t work,” he said. “They can go back to the IURC for rate approval. Capping their rate approval on an annual basis for increases might be helpful.”
Qaddoura was the only committee member who voted with Pol to pass his amendments.
