Southwestern Indiana residents now have a better idea of how much their CenterPoint Energy base electric charges will rise.
CenterPoint on Feb. 3 received the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission’s approval for a rate increase, but less of one than the Texas-based utility sought. CenterPoint has since added details that the average residential customer – one that uses 799 kilowatts per month – can expect their bill to initially jump $7 and eventually $26 per month by early 2026.
That’s roughly half of the rate hike CenterPoint had petitioned the state agency to levy. In total, the IURC lowered the potential bill impact by about $6 million, says Mike Roeder, CenterPoint senior vice president for external affairs.
IURC members came to Evansville for a public hearing in February 2024 and faced a packed ballroom of residents who angrily denounced any rate increases. Dozens of people, including Evansville Mayor Stephanie Terry, testified that the higher electric charges would be a hardship for those whose budgets are already stretched.
IURC members, who are appointed by Indiana’s governor, listened but made no comments at the hearing.
CenterPoint — which entered the Indiana market with the 2019 purchase of Vectren — had been charging the highest residential electric rates in Indiana, but as of mid-2024 its rates slipped behind those of the Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO). Roeder says that NIPSCO and other utilities serving Indiana have sought, and received, IURC approval for rate increases, with citizen opposition also being aired.
According to CenterPoint, the added customer costs will support a list of upgrades in the utility’s Indiana footprint, some of which have already been financed over the past 14 years.
CenterPoint cites a need to upgrade its transmission and distribution system, replacing outdated equipment and modernizing its energy grid; automated metering technology; new generation facilities and power sources to support growth; and projects to comply with environmental regulations.
“These are investments for reliability,” Roeder says. “We are always trying to balance these investments for reliability with affordability.”
Roeder pointed to the IURC’s decision to lower the total requested bill impact as evidence that the opposition aired by area residents was heard.
The $6 million reduction “is significant,” Roeder says. “From the minute we filed this rate case, we wanted to phase in the impact. We wanted to keep affordability at the top of our mind.”
Terry and some other elected officials released statements condemning the IURC’s approval of an electric rate increase for CenterPoint Energy.
“At a time when so many are struggling to make ends meet – to find affordable housing, to afford groceries – this increase in the cost of a basic necessity is devastating,” Terry said in a Feb. 3 statement posted to her social media.
As for when CenterPoint customers might start to notice the higher bill, it apparently won’t be long.
“The short answer is it will be a least a week,” Roeder says. “The longer answer is we have to make a compliance filing with the (IURC) that allows them to double-check our math for all the customer classes before we implement rates.”
