Decision due Wednesday in Alliant electric rate case

Alliant Energy's electric customers will find out next week whether they'll end up paying all or only part of a 13 percent rate hike the company is seeking.

The Iowa Utilities Board has scheduled a decision meeting in the case for 9 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 15, at its offices in Des Moines.

Customers of Alliant's Interstate Power & Light utility in Iowa have been under a 10 percent interim rate increase since early spring.

Alliant is seeking to recover rising transmission costs, the costs of a new wind farm, and rising operating expenses.

The company made a pitch to ease the impact on customers through a cost management plan that would transfer funds from reserve accounts set up from recent asset sales. It would reduce the increase to $60 million in the first year, $90 million in the second year, $126 million in the third year and $150 million in the fourth year.

The cost management plan would reduce rates by about 6 percent from the levels imposed in the interim rate increase last March.

Iowa's consumer advocate and several groups representing large electric users have opposed the increase. They argued that Alliant exceeded its cost cap when building a new wind farm, and is trying to recover costs for the Sixth Street Generating Station in Cedar Rapids, which has been out of service for over two years since it was destroyed in a flood.

In addition to deciding on the rate hike, Alliant has asked the board to approve a mechanism that would allow it to automatically pass through transmission rate increases from ITC Midwest.