Dive Summary:
- Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper has said that a measure allowing utilities to raise rates without going through a rate case could mean an drastic increase in customers' bills.
- To combat the proposal, Cooper has provided figures that show a 60-percent overstatement on rate increases by utility companies over the past decade; Cooper said that the current system protects customers against erroneous rate hike requests.
- The new structure would allow utilities to point out increased costs in a certain area for a wide variety of factors and pass the expenses onto its customers.
From the article:
In a memo, Cooper’s office contended that utility companies had overstated requested rate increases by as much as 60 percent over the past decade. Cooper said the current system safeguards against excessive increases and forces utilities to adjust their requests before they are approved.
Under the new structure, utilities could merely point to increased costs in a certain area — such as environmental requirements — and pass those expenses along to consumers even though their expenses might have gone down in other areas, the attorney general says. They also would be allowed to pass on higher regulatory costs to consumers. ...