HB1417: Utility deferred costs and accounting practices.

Legislative Summary

Utility deferred costs and accounting practices. Amends the Indiana Code provision concerning a system of accounting for public utilities to provide the following: (1) That a public utility, municipally owned utility, or not-for-profit utility may defer for consideration by the Indiana utility regulatory commission (IURC) and for future recovery costs incurred or to be incurred in a regulatory asset, to the extent that the specific costs are incremental and are not otherwise already included for recovery in the utility's rates. (2) That preapproval of the IURC is not required for the creation of a regulatory asset. (3) That a public utility, municipally owned utility, or not-for-profit utility may recover through the utility's rates over a reasonable period, as determined by the IURC, costs that are: (A) deferred under these provisions; and (B) found to be reasonable and prudent by the IURC. Amends the Indiana Code provision concerning a public utility's depreciation account and depreciation rates to provide the following: (1) That depreciation rates shall be calculated to recover a reasonable estimate of the future cost of removing retired assets of the public utility. (2) That in a proceeding in which the costs of a capital asset are being recognized for ratemaking purposes, a public utility may account for any asset retirement obligations and recover, through rates charged to customers, reasonably and prudently incurred costs associated with asset retirement obligations, to the extent the specific asset retirement obligation costs are incremental and have not been included in depreciation rates. (3) That the IURC shall make changes in a public utility's depreciation rates as necessary to reflect changes in: (A) the public utility's estimated asset retirement costs, including all reasonable and prudent costs of removing retired assets; and (B) the estimated retirement dates of the public utility's assets. Amends the Indiana Code chapter concerning federally mandated requirements for energy utilities to specify that recovery of the 80% of IURC-approved federally mandated costs that an energy utility may recover through a rate adjustment mechanism must commence no earlier than: (A) the date of a final agency action regarding the federally mandated requirement; or (B) in the absence of a final agency action, the date on which the federally mandated requirement becomes effective.