Regulators OK revised Alliant rate increase

Alliant Energy's request made last year to increase customer energy rates was approved Friday in a settlement agreement by the Iowa Utilities Board.

Interstate Power and Light Company - Alliant Energy's parent company - last April applied for an approximately $175.5 million, or 11.6 percent, increase in electric rates.

That request was amended to about $168 million, and the final increase was adjusted downward more to $130 million, or about 7.8 percent, in the settlement.

Officials with Alliant said the exact updates to customer rates will be known in a few weeks.

In the settlement document, fixed customer charges for residential rates would increase from $10.50 to $11.50. General service rates would go from $17.80 to $19, the document said.

Alliant began phasing in temporary rate increases last spring.

Company officials have said the rate increase, which was estimated last year at between $12 to $14 per month, represents about $2.5 billion in capital investments in the electrical system - into such efforts as power grid upgrades and the new Marshalltown natural gas generating station - since the last increase about six years ago.

Alliant's average customer bill last year was about $113 monthly. The utility serves about 500,000 customers.