Dive Brief:
- The Indiana Court of Appeals has remanded back to the state's utility regulators $61 million in costs approved related to Duke's Edwardsport coal gasification plant.
- The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) failed to fully consider arguments that customers should not bear the financing costs of a three-month delay caused by Duke, according to the court.
- The court added that regulators appeared to not have sufficiently considered ratepayer concerns and instead relied heavily on testimony submitted by Duke. The case will now be sent back to the IURC.
Dive Insight:
Duke Energy's Edwardsport facility went into service last year. The court's ruling is a temporary win for opponents of the $3.5 billion, 630 MW integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) project. Importantly, the court's decision does not alter the IURC's conclusion but remands it back for further review.
But the opinion by Appeals Court Judge James Kirsch could hint at broader implications for many proceedings. The Citizens Action Committee has complained that state regulators ignore their arguments and tend to give easy approval to utility rate hikes. Kirsch took specific note that the IURC, in authorizing the extra costs, had largely ignored the arguments made by ratepayers.
"The findings were insufficient to support the Commission’s conclusion that Duke was entitled to recover through the IGCC Rider the $61 million in financing charges incurred during the three-month delay in commissioning the plant," Kirsch said. And in reviewing the commission's order, Kirsch noted the commission set out a discussions and finding section, "but failed to make findings regarding the reasonableness of the three-month delay."
"The Commission also failed to make adequate findings on all factual determinations material to its ultimate conclusions to allow Duke to pass along to ratepayers all of Duke’s IGCC-9 costs," Kirsch said.
