Comments on Advance Indiana™: IURC Approves Another 26% Sewer Rate Increase For Citizens Energy

They've been scamming us on these sewer overfl...

2014-04-24T08:18:08.093-05:00

They've been scamming us on these sewer overflow issues for decades now. If you go back and check every time a rate or fee was increased to pay for CSOs and look at what they've actually achieved to date, you quickly figure out that they always wind up using at least half of the money for a purpose other than what it was intended.

Repairs traceable to the century of neglect should...

2014-04-24T07:40:21.786-05:00

Repairs traceable to the century of neglect should be paid for out of company profits, not through ratepayer increase. The corporation collected money that should have gone to repairs but didn't. We shouldn't have to bear any burden that's due to their dereliction of duty.

The IURC does a lot of chest-thumping about what t...

2014-04-23T20:53:08.400-05:00

The IURC does a lot of chest-thumping about what they're doing to protect consumers, but at the end of the day they always wind up giving the utilities 95% of what they want.

CEO Carey Lykins earned $2.9 million in 2012 — nea...

2014-04-23T20:11:52.832-05:00

CEO Carey Lykins earned $2.9 million in 2012 — nearly double what he made the previous year and more than triple what the leaders of other large municipal gas utilities earned. Lykins saw his compensation slashed by more than a third, to $1.9 million last year. Lykins had defended his pay, but Indiana utility regulators later grilled him in a public hearing, strongly hinting that the executive compensation was out of line.
The regulatory commission has clearly stated the multimillion-dollar salaries paid Citizens’ executives were excessive. "Citizens Water's level of executive compensation was not appropriate for a municipal utility," the agency said in a statement.
It warned last year that it expects Citizens to realign compensation in its next rate case "so that it is more compatible with actual municipal-based expenses." The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission also launched an investigation into the company's management practices, including how it runs its billing operations and call centers. The agency said that in some months, one out of four callers to the company hangs up before receiving service because of long wait times.