The Iowa Utilities Board on Friday granted a power company’s request for a temporary rate increase. Board spokesman Rob Hillesland explains.the move will increase Interstate Power and Light Company’s revenues by about six-percent to cover the fees associated with service and delivery costs for natural gas, not the cost of the fuel itself. He says customers will soon see the increase on their bills. He says they’ve calculated the impact on the monthly bill of an average customer will be five dollars, 21-cents. Hillesland says this is aimed at covering overhead costs for the company which is a subsidiary of Alliant Energy. He says the rate increase covers things like metering, customer-service, billing, and the physical distribution and their facilities that ensure delivery to customers. Hillesland says this is nothing new and utilities have separated the cost of their product, like natural gas, from their overhead, handling and delivery costs since early in the last decade. Depending on what kind of winter it turns out to be, the demand for the company’s natural gas will dictate what we pay for the fuel. The utility board’s decision grants the temporary rate increase from now through next May.
