How to invite somebody to my iurc channel

INDIANAPOLIS — State regulators rejected a request from 10 Indiana utility companies to charge customers for electricity they did not use during the COVID-19 pandemic and announced an extension of the state's moratorium on disconnections through Aug. 14.

The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission voted unanimously on Monday to deny the utilities' request. In May, Duke Energy, Indianapolis Power & Light and eight other Indiana electric and gas companies petitioned the commission for permission to recover revenue shortfalls.

"Under the regulatory compact, at a base level, utilities are obligated to provide safe, reliable service and customers are obligated to pay just and reasonable rates for any such service they receive," the IURC's order states.

"The balance of this Order seeks to work toward allowing customers to meet their obligation while providing utilities the reasonable relief they need to help such customers do so," the order continues. "However, asking customers to go beyond their obligation and pay for service they did not receive is beyond reasonable utility relief based on the facts before us.”

On May 11, the utility companies filed a 36-page petition with the IURC in which they claimed the effects of the pandemic, including government orders and businesses closing or moving to remote locations, "have resulted in significantly reduced load and revenues for some utilities."

The request by the utility companies proved controversial. Kerwin Olson, executive director of the consumer advocacy group Citizens Action Coalition, said the organization applauds the IURC's decision to reject the utilities' "absurd and self-serving request."

"It’s circumstances like these that consumers rely on regulators to protect them from the inherent greed of monopoly utilities," Olson said. "We’re pleased that the IURC answered this call and put consumers first."

Danielle McGrath, president of the Indiana Energy Association, a trade association that represents electric utilities, said the companies are currently reviewing the order.

"In the meantime, I would add that throughout this pandemic, Indiana's utilities have provided continuous service and flexible bill arrangements for customers, including an early decision to voluntarily suspend service disconnections to ensure that families and businesses would not have to worry about having electric or gas service because they could not pay during this crisis," McGrath said.

Moritorium on disconnections extended

In the early days of the pandemic in March, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed an executive order that was later extended through June 30 that suspended all disconnections. Previously, several utility companies announced disconnection suspensions of their own.

With a deadline approaching that would impact thousands out-of-work Hoosiers, the IURC also ruled that disconnection suspensions of all utilities it regulates should be extended by 45 days past Tuesday's deadline through Aug. 14.

“Temporarily prohibiting disconnections until August 14, 2020 is a balanced solution that allows both customers and utilities additional time to enter into reasonable payment arrangements to address any arrearages that may have accumulated and maintain essential utility services for the benefit of all customers, the utilities, and other stakeholders," the order said.

On Tuesday, Holcomb issued an executive order that said unregulated utilities must also suspend disconnections until Aug. 14.

Additionally, the commission doubled the minimum requirement for extended payment plans by requiring utility companies to offer payment plans of at least six months to all customers.

"The Commission expects customers and utilities to communicate as soon as possible to set up payment arrangements as necessary so utility service can be maintained," the IURC wrote. "The Commission also encourages utilities not under its jurisdiction to consider implementing the practices provided in the Order, given the statewide impact of COVID-19."

Next phase of the IURC's investigation

The IURC deferred the utility companies' request in which they asked to increase operations, maintenance and pension expenses until they can be evaluated in Phase 2 of the investigation. The commission announced the two-phase investigation on May 27.

The commission added that utility companies are authorized to record how they are impacted by "any prohibition on utility disconnections, collection of certain utility fees, and the use of expanded payment arrangements, which may be considered for cost recovery in the future."

PREVIOUS | Utilities seeking permission to charge customers to recover revenue lost due to pandemic

Last year, the Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) sought to raise a monthly customer charge by 71 percent for its gas customers.This fee is what customers are charged before they even turn on their stove or water heater. The increase would have seen that charge go from $14 to $24.50.“Many older Hoosiers have income constraints,” Sarah Waddle, AARP Indiana state director, said. “Both AARP members and the public at large stood up and said this was an egregious hike.”When a utility wants to increase charges to the consumer, it must make its case with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC). The Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor (OUCC), which is the state agency representing ratepayer interests in cases before the state, gathered public comments.Public opposition mounted throughout this process, and NIPSCO, the OUCC, and industrial customers negotiated an agreement, with no formal parties in opposition. The settlement agreement was approved by the IURC on July 27, 2022, and allows for an increase of approximately $71.8 million, a decrease of $37.9 million from the utility's $109.7 million request.Thanks to more than 1,100 Hoosiers – hundreds of which were AARP members – NIPSCO will only attain a $2.50 per month increase in its customer charge rising to $16.33, rather than the $24.50 amount the utility requested.“This was a victory for Hoosiers, especially those who must already make difficult financial choices regarding daily needs,” Waddle said.It is critical that consumers stay vigilant and pay close attention to their bills and communications from their utility providers, as the costs of these essential services continue to rise.

To learn more about the agreement NIPSCO reached with the OUCC click, visit this summary.

To see what AARP Indiana is doing to keep older Hoosiers informed about utilities, visit our information page.

In the context of the Bangkok Design Week 2021, the European Union has formed a partnership with we!park to organise the “New Green Possibilities” international online forum as an introduction of the EU-funded International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) programme in Thailand. The forum will bring together an array of urban stakeholders from Bangkok and other Asian and European cities, from city officials to urban designers and planners, landscape architects and property developers as well as business executives, who will share their visions on the green city and public space and showcase their innovative green projects.

“As cities are a source of both opportunities and challenges, urban development is a priority topic for the European Union,” said Michel Mouchiroud, Deputy Head of the FPI Regional Team in Asia Pacific at the Delegation of the European Union to Thailand. “According to the UN, around 60% of the world’s population lives in cities, generating more than 80% of the global GDP. At the same time, cities are consuming roughly 78% of the world’s energy and producing more than 60% of greenhouse gas emissions. Also, the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting the economic performance of cities and international cooperation can trigger innovative solutions. I am glad that the IURC programme will be implemented in Thailand for the next two and a half years. It will further strengthen EU-Thailand cooperation and help achieve our respective sustainability goals.”

To be organised from 19 to 30 July, the “New Green Possibilities” forum will consist of four talks. The Policy Talk will invite city officials and urban planners to share their respective city’s vision of green urban development and exchange ideas on policy and incentive mechanisms. The Platform Talk will highlight key “platforms”, or initiatives and networks, that promote green urban development through a multi-stakeholder participatory process and how they can be sustained and scaled up so that more green spaces can be developed in urban areas. The Design Talk will introduce innovative green development concepts and successful projects from different cities and further enhance a network of Thai and international urban designers. The Business Talk aims to further engage the Thai business sector, particularly large conglomerates, in green urban development, showcasing private projects that are contributing to more green space in Bangkok.

In total, speakers from ten cities will participate in the forum, namely Bangkok, Barcelona, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Penang, Rome, Seoul, Shanghai and Singapore.

“Several urban problems can be alleviated by increasing green space in a city,” said Yossapon Boonsom, the founder of we!park, which is an initiative of Shma, a leading Bangkok-based landscape architecture and urban design company. “Green infrastructure, such as a park or a garden, even a small one, can to an extent contribute to solving urban issues including effects of climate change, air and noise pollution, urban food insecurity, lack of biodiversity and lack of recreational space. One important example is how the life quality of people in many cities around the world has been impacted by PM 2.5 in the past decade. These cities are now realising that more green urban space is one key solution to poor air quality.”

The “New Green Possibilities” forum will be hosted via Zoom and broadcast live on the Facebook page of City Cracker, a news portal on urban development also run by Shma. The event is open to the public via registration. For the forum’s full programme and registration, visit: https://bit.ly/NGPForum2021.

About the European Union

The European Union (EU) is an economic and political union of 27 Member States. Together, they have built a zone of stability, democracy and sustainable development while maintaining cultural diversity, tolerance and individual freedom.

In Thailand, the Delegation of the European Union to Thailand has recently collaborated with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration on the Canal Cleanup Day in 2020, which aimed at instilling the knowledge about waste management and circular economy in young Thai minds, and on the EU Urban Heritage video series, which highlight the history of European contribution to urban development and architecture of Bangkok.

https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/thailand_en
https://www.facebook.com/EUinThailand

About IURC

Funded by the European Union, the International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) programme aims to promote multi-city cooperation on sustainable urban development and to build partnerships between EU and non-EU cities. Participating local governments will be enabled to implement pilot projects engaging research, civil society and business partners.

The IURC contributes to the objectives of the UN New Urban Agenda, the Agenda 2030 (SDGs), the Urban Agenda for the EU and the European Commission’s priorities for a “Stronger Europe in the World” with the European Green Deal and the NextGenerationEU (post COVID-19 recovery plan) at the centre. The programme is implemented in the geographical area of Asia and Australasia in nine countries, namely Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Thailand and Vietnam.

https://www.iurc.eu/australasia/
https://twitter.com/iurc_aa

About we!park

Supported by the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, we!park is a collective of urban design enthusiasts who see the merit of turning vacant land into green public spaces. This enthusiasm coincides with Thailand’s new Land and Building Tax Act, which taxes vacant land. The platform works in a participatory design approach to develop quality and sustainable green public spaces, particularly small areas like pocket parks, with the mission to increase access to green public spaces within 400 m or 5 minutes. This corresponds to the indicators of the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration with regard to green public spaces. For Bangkok, we!park is contributing to the goals of the Green Bangkok 2030 initiative that aims at increasing the share of the population that can access green public spaces within 400 m from 13% to 50%, increasing green space per capita from 6.9 m2 to 10 m2, and increasing tree canopy cover from 17% to 30% by 2030.

https://www.facebook.com/wecreatepark/
https://shmadesigns.com/