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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — State utility regulators have approved a deal allowing Duke Energy to increase electricity rates by 2 percent to help pay for its $3.5 billion coal-gasification plant in southwestern Indiana.
The agreement approved Wednesday includes Duke picking up $87.5 million of operating costs deferred since the plant went into service in 2013 near the Knox County town of Edwardsport.
The Indianapolis Business Journal reports the decision ends more than five years of disputes over how to pay for the plant where cost overruns nearly doubled its price tag.
Duke Energy says that without the settlement agreement reached in January, the rate increase would have been about 3.6 percent.
Citizens Action Coalition Director Kerwin Olson says the settlement is a victory for electricity customers.
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