By State Sen. Daryl Schmitt (R-Jasper)
Throughout the country, Indiana is known to have one of the lowest costs of living of any state across the nation.
However, as many Hoosiers have experienced in recent years, utility bills have risen and customers are understandably frustrated by the cost to keep the lights on.
With that in mind, this year I strongly supported House Enrolled Act 1002, which would overhaul Indiana's ratemaking process for electric utilities to promote affordability, predictable monthly bills and reliable service.
The bill would switch Indiana to a performance-based ratemaking model, which requires companies to meet certain affordability and reliability goals to collect their full return on investment.
Under this system, if a utility's average residential bill increases significantly faster than the national electricity prices, the utility's return would be cut by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.
Companies would also need to ensure they provide a reliable service, and if the total duration of outages significantly increases, their return would be cut.
This new model is the biggest change to our ratemaking process in over a century. Our state has historically operated under a cost-of-service model, where companies could charge customers to recoup their costs. But, going forward, the amount utilities can collect will be based on the quality of service they provide to customers.
House Enrolled Act 1002 received widespread bipartisan support in the General Assembly and was signed into law by the governor on Thursday, Feb. 26.
As always, constituents can reach out to me with any questions or concerns by email at s48@iga.in.gov or by phone at 1-800-382-9467.
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State Sen. Daryl Schmitt (R-Jasper) represents Senate District 48,
which includes Crawford, Dubois, Gibson, Perry, Pike and Spencer counties.
Click here to download a high-resolution photo.
