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