§ 8-1-13-30 — Changes in schedules of rates, tolls, and charges; requests for increases; approval; factors considered; required procedures

(a) No change shall be made in any schedule,
including schedules of joint rates, except upon thirty (30) days notice
to the commission, and approval by the commission, and all changes
shall be plainly indicated upon existing schedules or by filing new
schedules in place of existing schedules thirty (30) days before the time
the same are to take effect. The commission may prescribe a shorter
time within which a change may be made. A corporation may not file
a request for a general increase in its basic rates and charges within
fifteen (15) months after the filing date of its most recent request for a
general increase in its basic rates and charges, except that the
commission may order a more timely increase if:
(1) the requested increase relates to a different type of utility
service;
(2) the commission finds that the corporation's financial integrity
or service reliability is threatened; or
(3) the increase is based on:
(A) a rate structure previously approved by the commission; or
(B) orders of federal courts or federal regulatory agencies
having jurisdiction over the corporation.
The phrase "general increase in basic rates and charges" does not
include changes in rates related solely to the cost of fuel or purchased
electricity or adjustments in accordance with tracking provisions
approved by the commission.
(b) No schedule of rates, tolls, and charges of a corporation which
includes or authorizes any changes in charges based upon costs is
effective without the approval of the commission. Before the
commission approves any changes in the schedule of rates, tolls, and
charges of a corporation that generates and sells electricity, based upon
the cost of fuel to generate electricity or upon the cost of fuel included
in the cost of purchased electricity, the utility consumer counselor shall
examine the books and records of the public generating corporation to
determine the cost of fuel upon which the proposed charges are based.
In addition, before a fuel cost charge becomes effective, the
commission shall hold a summary hearing on the sole issue of the fuel
charge. The utility consumer counselor shall conduct a review and
make a report to the commission within twenty (20) days after the
corporation's request for the fuel cost charge is filed. The commission
shall hold the summary hearing and issue its order within twenty (20)
days after it receives the utility consumer counselor's report. The
provisions of this chapter concerning the filing, printing, and changing
of rate schedules and the time required for giving notice of hearing and
requiring publication of notice do not apply to the fuel cost charge or
the summary hearing.
(c) Regardless of the pendency of any request for a fuel cost charge
by any corporation, the books and records pertaining to cost of fuel of
all corporations that generate electricity shall be examined by the utility
consumer counselor not less often than quarterly, and the books and
records of all electric nongenerating corporations shall be examined by
the utility consumer counselor not less often than annually. The utility
consumer counselor shall provide the commission with a report as to
the examination of the books and records within a reasonable time
following the examination. The utility consumer counselor may, if
appropriate, request of the commission a reduction or elimination of
the fuel cost charge. Upon such request, the commission shall
immediately hold a hearing in the manner provided in this chapter.
(d) An electric generating corporation may apply for a change in its
fuel charge not more often than each three (3) months. When the
application is filed the petitioning corporation shall show to the
commission its cost of fuel to generate electricity and the cost of fuel
included in the cost of purchased electricity, for the period between its
last order from the commission approving fuel costs in its basic rates
and the latest month for which actual fuel costs are available. The
petitioning corporation shall also estimate its average fuel costs for the
three (3) calendar months subsequent to the expiration of the twenty
(20) day period allowed the commission in subsection (b). The
commission shall conduct a formal hearing solely on the fuel cost
charge requested in the petition subject to the notice requirements of
IC 8-1-1-8 and shall grant the electric corporation the requested fuel
cost charge if it finds that:
(1) the electric corporation has made every reasonable effort to
acquire fuel and generate or purchase power or both so as to
provide electricity to its customers at the lowest fuel cost
reasonably possible;
(2) the actual increases in fuel cost through the latest month for
which the actual fuel costs are available since the last order of the
commission approving basic rates and charges of the electric
corporation have not been offset by actual decreases in other
operating expenses;
(3) the corporation's estimate of its prospective average fuel costs
for each of the three (3) calendar months are reasonable after
taking into consideration:
(A) the actual fuel costs experienced by the corporation during
the latest three (3) calendar months for which actual fuel costs
are available; and
(B) the estimated fuel costs for the same latest three (3)
calendar months for which actual fuel costs are available.
(e) Should the commission at any time determine that an emergency
exists that could result in an abnormal change in fuel costs, it may, in
order to protect the public from the adverse effects of such change,
suspend the provisions of subsection (d) as to the corporation affected
by the emergency and initiate such procedures as may be necessary to
protect both the public and the corporation from harm. The commission
shall lift the suspension when it is satisfied the emergency no longer
exists.
(f) Any change in the fuel cost charge granted by the commission
under the provisions of this section shall be reflected in the rates
charged by the corporation in the same manner as any other changes in
rates granted by the commission in a case approving the basic rates and
charges of the corporation. However, the corporation may file the
change as a separate amendment to its rate schedules with a reasonable
reference in the amendment that the charge is applicable to all of its
filed rate schedules.

Legislative History

As added by P.L.121-1987, SEC.7.