Nearly 50 utility workers in eastern Iowa lost their jobs Thursday. Alliant Energy announced last month it would be cutting some 230 jobs in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin. About 100 employees were cut from the payroll this week in the four states, including 25 in Cedar Rapids and 12 in Dubuque. Alliant spokesman Scott Drzycinski says the company chose to cut jobs instead of raising costs for consumers. Drzycinski says Alliant is in a phase of putting up more infrastructure, building more power plants and putting up more lines and poles, which raises costs. The affected workers held corporate and operations support jobs. About one-third of the jobs being cut are already vacant. He says the employees were offered severance packages and help finding other jobs. These cuts won’t have an immediate impact on bills, but Alliant customers might see a slight decrease on future bills.
