Utility pushes for deregulation

One of Iowa’s utilities has launched an ad campaign to try to turn “no” votes into “yes” votes on a bill in the legislature which would deregulate electric utilities.Lawmakers who live in southern Iowa are reluctant to support the bill, as Iowa’s Consumer Advocate says electric rates will go up 44 percent in southern Iowa if it’s passed. In newspaper ads, Alliant Energy features a “Dear Customer” letter that says the low electric rates in the southern zone will expire in 2002 — and the utility will move to raise those rates if the bill’s not enacted. The utility says the electric deregulation bill before the legislature would protect customers in the southern zone by freezing rates ’til 2008. Alliant executives warn without the law, rates will go up dramatically.